Kingdom Hearts: The Age of Fairy Tales
by The Dismotivator
Summary: Upon the discovery of the χ-blade and the creation of Keyblades, war was waged over the ultimate light: Kingdom Hearts. The same war shattered both the χ-blade and the World itself. Despite the war, there existed those who fought for the end of conflict. Decide: Did they succeed, or is the World we now know a remnant of their failure? Was the Keyblade a tool of chaos, or salvation?
1. The First Chapter in a Great Prologue

**_Once upon a time, I was on the internet, wasting time that should've been spent on actually writing fanfiction, and came across a picture of the ten Keyblades in the Keyblade Graveyard. So, scientific as my mind is, I wondered:_**

**_"Why, when there are so many different Keyblades Sora has wielded, are there only ten kinds that remain in the Keyblade Graveyard, where a thousand different Keyblade wielders supposedly died?"_**

**_The answer was simple: No one wanted to waste time designing a thousand different Keyblades to use for a background. But just as I was scientific, I was crazy. So I decided that just as there were technical explanations for such things in video games, I decided that there was some significance to it in-story. _**

**_So why only ten? While coming up with an answer for that, my crazy self decided to become BFFs with my fanfic-writing self, since they have so much in common. Lo and behold, a single idea branched off into a thousand fibers of life until it became a Godzilla-sized plotbunny of perpetual torment. That's when my logic self gave up on understanding those other two and did the research required for tying the fanfic with the canon, and from the research, the plotbunny grew. _**

**_And so I, the Dismotivator, have created yet another Keyblade War fic. Except this time, it's got 'Kingdom Hearts Student Speculative Fanfiction' written all over it. I have based the content of the story on the Xehanort Reports of BbS and the Glossary of KH3D. In this first chapter, the following parts of that text will be... I dunno, elaborated upon? O_o?_**

**_"Keyblades: _****_A key-shaped weapon forged by man during the age of fairy tales. _****_Any other origins have yet to be revealed." _****_–Glossary: Keyblades (Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance)_**

**_"[There] were no walls of light enclosing each smaller world the way they do today. Nothing prevented one from physically interfering with the next. _**

**_At that time, the World was filled with light, and a great many Keyblade wielders. But without buffers, the worlds began to squabble over ownership of the light. You see, they learned of the Keyblade's true use. War broke out as each of the Keyblade wielders struggled to lay claim to an almighty entity known as Kingdom Hearts." –Xehanort's Report III_**

**_For those of you who think that this note was long, I can promise that the notes in chapters to come will be shorter. _****_Also, I have noted that Kingdom Hearts PC takes place during the Keyblade War, but unless something awesome happens in the game, I will pretend it doesn't exist/ is not canon, and is just a way for Square Enix to distract the fans while making the games leading to KH3, and KH3 itself. _****_Wish me luck, and enjoy the ride for all it's worth. _**

* * *

**The First Chapter in a Great Prologue**

* * *

In both the writings of Xehanort and the fanciful tales that the elderly told children, a great conflict over the worlds' light was spoken of, and it ended in the ultimate separation of worlds in widespread darkness. Some say it was a great struggle of a thousand years, while others say it was a swift, impactful battle of an instant. Often, it is viewed as a tale that can only be seen from the great eye from above, watching the millions of the World's inhabitants act and react according to the will of the heart, but the truest outcomes of the Keyblade War can be seen from the eyes of ten unsung heroes, whose efforts to end the era of strife remain hidden under the same darkness that blankets the worlds we know of today.

When the World was one, when the light and darkness coexisted, when Keyblades were made by hand, when humanity was still unaware of the great light that helped them survive, the world was at peace. The Keyblade itself was not viewed as anything near sacred, merely as a tool for the creation of the χ-blade.

Many strived to wield Keyblade in order to bring about the creation of the χ-blade, and some have even allied in order to reach that goal. Radiant Garden, one of the worlds leading in nearly every aspect, was led by a Sage-King known as Alban the Wise, and he was a very powerful Keyblade wielder. For years, he had trained himself in the use of light as an extension of his will, and he became skilled enough to be known as one of the greatest wielders of light in the world. Alban, like many others, yearned to create the χ-blade, and so trained his only son, Ardent the Wise, to become a Keyblade wielder just like him.

But many things stood as hurdles to Alban regarding his son becoming the Keyblade wielder he was intended to be. Keyblades were not something that could be found in a store, bought from places worlds away, or ordered for creation. There existed a small handful of people in the world who could create Keyblades, and these special people were known as Keycrafters. Alban was friends with one famous Keycrafter, known as Kye of the Vanguard, but Kye was too busy a man to create a Keyblade for Ardent, and rather than Keycrafting being his profession, he was merely a person who knew how it was done, like an inventor who knew how to repair vehicles. With that, Alban the Wise was at a loss on who to find to give Ardent his Keyblade.

The second problem that stood was the fact that Ardent needed protection to travel through worlds, as he was not the most skilled of swordsmen, and he knew little of the World beyond the castle of Radiant Garden in which he resided. He was trained to use a sword in the shape of a Keyblade, though he neglected his training far too often for him to become very skilled, and a sword, despite that it was physically similar to a Keyblade, was nothing close to an adequate replacement. It lacked the magic properties of the Keyblade, and Ardent could do not much more than swing it around. The redeeming fact was that he was rather talented with Magic, though that was not enough.

But the most daunting issue to Alban was that his son, in all fifteen years of his life, had shown absolutely no interest in the χ-blade at all. Ardent would spend most of his day speaking to his friend on a phone while sitting in the garden, or talking with the guards about anything under the sun. He acted regal, and his aura was appropriately princely, though he was clever enough to make conversation about the χ-blade turn to a different topic without dropping it entirely.

Alban was a man with a strong stature and a tannish skin tone. His hair was blond and not too long, his eyes were orange, and his jaw was square and bearded lightly. He wore a white coat as part of his usual attire as Sage-King, and a purple cape, which was a sign of royalty in Radiant Garden. From the castle, he looked out the window and watched his son, who sat on the top steps of the staircase in the gardens. Alban sighed as Ardent pulled his phone out of his coat pocket.

Ardent was a teenage boy with the same eye, hair and skin color, and a younger-looking but equally strong stature. His blond hair was out of his face, and somewhat spiky, as some would call it, and he also wore a small purple cape attached to white orichalcum shoulder pads, as a requirement for being a prince. He wore a dark gray coat that was no longer than his knees and open along the bottom half, a pair of black pants, and lightly armored silver boots.

Radiant Garden at night, despite the shadow of evening covering, still lived up to its name, as the fountains and streams would illuminate, and the flowing water would twist the light so that they would appear glowing, and the radiance would spread across the world. Where there were few visible fountains, such as the Outer Gardens, Castle Town and Marketplace, the pipes that carried the water had the same effect, glowing golden when under moonlight. Both Alban and Ardent had grown used to the sight already, though when asked, they would agree that it must have been one of the most beautiful worlds.

The prince clicked on a button on his phone an put it to his ear. A beep sounded, and a girl's voice followed.

"_Lemme guess,"_ the voice said. _"Prince Ardent the Wise, calling from the famous Radiant Garden's actual garden?"_

"Bingo," Ardent said, staring at a tree as he answered. "Now guess what he's going to talk about."

"_His dad's wishes for him to become a Keyblade wielder and create the χ-blade," _the voice replied. _"That's what he's been talking about for the past three days. And nights."_

Ardent looked up at the dark blue sky of nighttime. The sun had set hours ago, and only source of light was the moon that hung midway in the blue background, just above one of the walls of the garden. "Well, not anymore, I guess," he said into the phone, "since you guessed it correctly. I don't want to be a sort of broken record to you."

"_It's fine__, Ardent," _the girl on the other line said comfortingly, with a small chuckle shaking her words. _"Tonight's the last night before you and that Keyblade wielder go and find a Keycrafter, right?"_

"'That Keyblade wielder's name is Cynaris, apparently," Ardent said. "But go on."

"_Tonight's the last night before you and Cynaris go find a Keycrafter. As in, the last night before you say goodbye to your home for a while. I think you should get any issues off your mind before getting to bed tonight."_

"Thanks, Limdra," Ardent answered. "But you've helped me work out all my issues in the last few nights. There's nothing left to talk about, at least, that comes to mind."

Limdra laughed. _"If you say so. Then why call me?"_

Ardent paused before answering. "No one else to talk to in the castle. It just makes me more comfortable. That, and you're a good ear for a prince's problems."

"_I appreciate the compliment__," _Limdra said. _"And I'm glad to help. But, this time, can I ask the questions?"_

"Shoot," Ardent said. "I can answer."

"_I know you're not exactly enthusiastic about the whole Keyblading thing, but why is that?"_

Unbeknownst to Limdra, Ardent's lips curved into a smirk. "I just don't get it. The χ-blade allows incredible things to happen, right? They say whoever gets it will be reborn or something – become something higher than what they used to be."

"_Uh-huh…"_

"So say we _do _get it," Ardent continued, "and we use its power to change the World for the better. As in, the best it could possibly be. What then? Do we just look at it and say, 'Alright, we did a good job?' After that, no one would have any goals anymore. There wouldn't be anything to discover, nothing to improve on, and nowhere to go."

"_The beginning of a perfect existence, then," _Limdra said in comprehension, _"would be like the end of advancement, because there would be nothing to advance."_

"Exactly," Ardent said. "Getting a Keyblade is enough, but creating the χ-blade? I just don't see the point."

They paused, waiting for the other to say something. Limdra spoke. _"Well, aren't you the young philosopher."_

"Well, you helped me figure it out," Ardent said. "That, and we seemed to be on the same wavelength earlier."

_"True, very true," _Limdra said_._

Ardent stared at the sky at length before speaking again, looking particularly at the moon. "Hey Limdra… It's night in your world, too, right?"

"_Uh, yeah," _Limdra answered, as if she were taken aback by the sudden topic change. _"What's up?"_

"What does the moon look like right now, in your world?" Ardent asked. For him, the moon was a crescent. He couldn't tell if it as waxing or waning.

"_Crescent," _Limdra said. _"I think it's a waxing crescent. Just a few days ago, we had a new moon, I think."_

"Same sky, huh?"

"_Yeah. That's common knowledge."_

Ardent paused. "The moon looks a little lonely up there, all alone."

* * *

Early the next morning, Alban the Wise planned to meet his son at the front doors of the castle. To his right was the Keyblade wielder that visited his castle one day, and who agreed to take Ardent to a Keycrafter that she knew.

The Keyblade wielder's name was Cynaris, and she was a wielder of Excalibur, a Keyblade that was more of a blade than a key. Cynaris was a girl Ardent's age, with a fairly lean figure and a light skin tone. Her eyes were blue, and her hair was dishwater blonde, cut just short of the base of her neck. She wore a black robe-like garment, blue pants, and brown leather boots, and a satchel hung from her right shoulder. One of her hands grasped her forearm, and her face was bright in anticipation for Ardent's arrival.

Alban looked at her. "You seem excited," he noted.

Cynaris shrugged. "There's no reason for me not to be," she said. "Ardent doesn't seem like a bad guy, and it's just, the whole prospect of having someone to travel with me after so long just makes me, well, excited."

Satisfied, Alban nodded with a small grunt and watched the stairs for his son. It was only a few seconds when he decided to look back at Cynaris. The girl was quite energetic, as opposed to Ardent himself. She had the demeanor of a little girl sometimes, he thought, but there was something that didn't fit with the girl, and he didn't dare ask about it.

Her hair did its job of hiding it so that it wasn't glaringly obvious, but her forehead bore a horizontal, cut-shaped scar, and it was the only indication – besides that she could actually use a Keyblade – that she had any fighting experience at all. Alban didn't deny to himself the fact that he was curious of the scar's origin, but he knew it might have been a sensitive topic, and there was really no place for a casual conversation about it.

"Is something the matter, King Alban, sir?"

Alban blinked, hoping he hadn't been staring again. Staring while deep in thought was a habit he developed over time, after watching his son from the windows for so long. "It's nothing," he answered. Cynaris smiled at him and returned to waiting, lightly sweeping the ground with her boot.

The Sage-King closed his eyes and sighed discreetly. When he opened them again, he could see Ardent finally pushing the door of the castle open, adjusting a pair of fingerless gloves as he walked to meet his father and his new protector. Besides his regular clothing, a Keyblade-shaped sword was strapped to a belt on his waist.

Alban nodded when Ardent looked ready. "Ardent," he began, "do you remember Cynaris, the Keyblade wielder we agreed to accompany you?"

"Yeah," Ardent said with a subtle shrug. He turned his head to look at the girl who stood next to his father. "You must be Cynaris."

Cynaris nodded and extended a hand. "You can call me Aris. Pleased to meet you."

More out of habit than actual delight, Ardent smiled and shook the hand extended to him. "...The feeling's mutual."

They let go just as Alban was about to speak. "You and Cynaris will complement each other well," he said. "Unlike us, she is a skilled wielder of darkness, and has been to many worlds in her travels. If you have any questions about Keyblades or the other worlds, she can answer them." He paused to face Cynaris. "And until my son becomes a Keyblade wielder, his safety is in your hands."

Cynaris gave a thumbs-up and a toothy grin. "You can count on me, sir!"

Alban nodded. "Is everything in order for your departure, then?"

"Everything from the luggage to the airship to the pilot of the airship," Cynaris answered.

"Then you may be on your way," Alban said.

"Gotcha." Cynaris began walking towards the gate. "C'mon, Ardent."

Ardent's mouth was lopsided in a manner that showed discontent, and his eyelids hung low from disinterest, but he made to follow Cynaris until he felt his father's hand on his shoulder. Eyes slightly widened, he looked at his father. Alban smiled and nodded encouragingly at his son, while Ardent smirked and raised an eyebrow at his father.

"Nothing to say, huh?" Ardent said.

"You can interpret my expression in any way you wish, Ardent," Alban answered. "Now go. Cynaris shouldn't have to wait for you. Remember, you're also a prince." He lifted his hand from Ardent's shoulder. "Living up to your title is one of your responsibilities."

"Thanks, then," Ardent said, monotone. "I'll keep it in mind." _And save my interpretation for later._

* * *

From the front doors of the castle, it was a straight walk through the town in a single direction to the Outer Gardens, where Ardent and Cynaris would board the airship that Cynaris had called in personally. The two talked was they made their way there, and Ardent had learned in that conversation that the pilot of the airship was a tradesmoogle called Morlock, whom Cynaris had befriended sometime recently. According to her, he would be welcomed in the airship even if he weren't a prince, and the ship itself would make an adequate home for the time being, until they arrived at the Keycrafter's residence.

"So… an airship…" Ardent looked to the side, at a row of bushes, as he and Cynaris neared the airship area of Radiant Garden. "Is that what people use to move across worlds?"

"Not necessarily," Cynaris answered. "It's possible to get to other worlds by land or sea, but there are some worlds that can't be reached that way very easily. So, airships are ultimately the best choice. It's impossible for them to enter underwater worlds, like Atlantica, but airships that have been modified for underwater travel aren't unheard of."

Ardent looked at Cynaris, who just smiled. His tired expression didn't change, and neither did Cynaris' cheerful visage. "And we're going to be living in an airship until we get to…?"

"They call it the Land of Departure." Cynaris faced forward, but the way she spoke made it clear that she was speaking to Ardent. "It's only considered a world because it's so far away from any other worlds. The only real part of the Land of Departure is the castle and the ground surrounding it, but the mountains are also considered part of it."

"'The Land of Departure?'" As he said the world's name, Ardent searched his memory, putting a hand to his chin and lowering his head. "I think I've heard of that world before somewhere…"

Cynaris chuckled and looked at him. "Should I leave you to remember where you heard it, or should I help jog your memory?"

Ardent removed his hand from his chin and looked at Cynaris. "Tell me about the Land of Departure."

"Well, besides what I've told you, it's the…" She trailed off mid-sentence, and her smile faltered for a fraction of a second.

Ardent urged her to continue. "The…?"

Cynaris came back to her senses. She shook her head and laughed. "Sorry! I can be spacey sometimes, you know?"

_I gathered as much, _Ardent thought. "You were talking about the Land of Departure."

"Oh, right." She cleared her throat. "It's pretty much the home of most members of the Vanguard, and some Keyblade wielders. Only one of the Vanguards that stay there is a Keycrafter, though."

They approached the airship, but Ardent was more interested in what Cynaris meant by 'Vanguard' to look at it. "What's a…" Before he could ask, though, the sheer size of the ship caught his eye, and he just had to spare a few seconds to look at it.

As Ardent examined the airship, Cynaris told him a small bit about the enormous aircraft. "It's called the 'Galateia,'" she said. "Morlock named it after someone he knew."

Ardent's mind took the information, and labeled the airship with 'Galateia' while he memorized its features. He thought that the Galateia was somewhat whale-shaped, and the wings on its sides somewhat resembled the fins of the whale. On the top of the ship, there was a pair of rotors on the front and back, and on the four corners of the ship, there were tubular attachments of a sort. Along the front of the ship, he could see a window that lined what Ardent compared to the whale's head, and from where he was standing, it seemed to be reflective from the outside. Ardent guessed that was where the flight deck was located. The ship itself appeared to be made of some sort of metal, at least on the outside, because most of the exterior resembled dull silver, though there were parts on the outside that were white, such as the 'head' or the ship, and some other parts brownish, such as the tube-shaped attachments on the corners. Along the side were lines of windows that resembled those at the front, but were in portions and not as wide. From the arrangement of those windows, Ardent guessed that there were two floors, because there was a second row below the windows aligned with the flight deck. The entire thing seemed to be roughly the size of about half the castle.

When Cynaris waved her hand in front of Ardent's face, he knew he was looking too long. He blinked a few times before muttering a small, "Sorry."

Cynaris grinned. "I know how you feel. The Galateia's really not too big a ship compared to the others, believe it or not." She hummed in thought for a moment. "You know, when I met Morlock, he told me about the parts of the Galateia. Want me to tell you?"

"Go ahead," Ardent agreed.

"All right." Cynaris clapped once and pointed to the top of the ship, where the rotors were. "The Galateia utilizes both technology and magic in its flight. The rotors up there have blades that clearly wouldn't be able to carry the ship on their own, so instead, they're powered by magic stones that allow the airship to fly by controlling the air around it." She pointed to one of the tubes. "Those barrel-shaped things over there have two propellers in each of them, and function the same way as the rotors on top, but they're used mostly for control of the ship than keeping it airborne." She looked at Ardent to see if he was paying attention. "Are you still following me?"

"The ship is kept in flight mainly by magic, those barrel things around the corner are used for control, and when you said, 'powered by,' I assumed you meant that the rotors were where the magic would manifest." Ardent raised an eyebrow at her, as if asking if he got that right.

"Good memory." Satisfied, she pointed to the front area of the ship. "That part there is the forecastle, where the bridge is located. Morlock controls everything in the bridge and spends most of his day there." Finally, she gestured to the entire top of the ship by moving her finger left and right as she pointed. "The roof over there can be folded back so that there would be a deck on the outside that you could walk on, but it's almost never opened up because when you're up there and the ship's moving fast, you'd be flying in a second." She put her hand back down. "And that covers your lesson on airships. Sort of."

Ardent blinked. "Sort of?"

"We haven't seen the inside yet," Cynaris answered, walking towards the entrance of the airship, where a bridge was lowered to reach the outer pathway of Radiant Garden. "C'mon. It might not be too big, but it'll be cozy."

"If you say so…" Something in the back of Ardent's mind was telling him that he forgot something, but he couldn't recall.

* * *

When they entered the ship, Cynaris asked if Ardent wanted to go to his cabin, but to give himself time to remember what he forgot, Ardent said that he still had something to talk about with her, turning down the offer. Cynaris agreed with a smile, but told Ardent that she had to go see Morlock before anything else. Without any reason to disagree, Ardent shrugged and allowed her to meet with her moogle friend. If anything, it gave him more time to think.

Morlock, by all appearances, was jst a moogle wearing a moogle-sized blue coat, but the way he spoke and the way Cynaris spoke to him reminded Ardent that he was not only a moogle, but the captain of an airship. The moogle was glad to see Cynaris, apparently, because when Cynaris went to greet him, they talked like old friends. Cynaris wasn't at all fazed by the Morlock's habit of including 'kupo' in most of his sentences, and Morlock seemed to openly embrace Cynaris' sprightly personality. When Cynaris introduced Ardent, Morlock was happy to meet the prince of Radiant Garden, if only because of Ardent's acquaintance with Cynaris herself.

Once she had finished her greetings, Cynaris led Ardent to a part of the ship with a wooden floor, windows on two walls, and four long tables. The seats were part of the ship, either built into the wall or on a post built onto the floor. The tables were made of polished wood and supported by steel poles. There were light panels on the ceiling, but during the day, the windows were wide and long enough to provide more than enough light to the room. The two of them took seats on opposite sides of one table, at its edge.

Cynaris intertwined her fingers as her arms rested on the table's surface. "Okay, so what is it you wanted to ask me about?"

"Uhh…" Ardent leaned back and crossed his arms, staring at a panel on the wooden floor as he thought of a decoy topic. "…Keyblade wielders."

Cynaris' head tilted a bit. "Huh?"

"Besides using a Keyblade, what else can Keyblade wielders do?" Ardent moved his hands a bit as he talked. "Like, is there anything special that comes with the Keyblade?"

"Of course!" Cynaris said. "There are more than a few, but the first one that comes to mind is that using the Keyblade, a Keybearer can unlock any lock at all, from your regular house lock to locks that are so big they can almost only be opened by a Keyblade. But we make sure not to abuse this power. Or at least, I do." She laughed to herself. "Some people can be pretty... creative, about their powers."

"I see." Ardent nodded. He was honestly interested in what she was talking about. "It fits. After all, they are called _Key_blades. What else?"

"Well, Keyblades help their wielders quite a bit in magic," Cynaris said. "A novice magic user can be on par with an expert in a matter of days once they get a Keyblade, and even then, there are magic specialist Keyblade wielders, too. Just imagine what they can do."

"Keep going," Ardent said.

"Keyblades also give their wielders an extended amount of control over light or darkness. The light and darkness thing kind of works like a person's laterality."

"How?"

Cynaris twiddled her thumbs as she organized her thoughts. "Um, every person is born with a natural preference for either light or darkness, but anyone can choose to go against their natural preference and use the opposing force instead, like learning to write with the hand that isn't your dominant hand. But in the same way it feels a little funny when you try writing like that, it takes more practice to get the hang of using that force."

"Is there anything like an ambidextrous equivalent?"

"Ambidextrous equivalent?" Cynaris paused for a split second. "You mean, like a person who uses light _and _darkness?" Ardent nodded, and Cynaris continued. "Yeah, there are people like that, but they're as rare as they come. I heard that every Keycrafter uses both, but they all have a dominant force, too, and just balance use between one and the other. It's a job requirement, apparently."

_Kye is a Keycrafter… _Ardent had a passing thought. "How hard is it to be able to balance both?"

Cynaris shrugged. "I guess it's twice as hard as learning to use the other, but I don't really know. Maybe you should ask the Keycrafter once we get there."

"All right," Ardent said. "Is there anything else?"

"It's not officially a fact, but every Keyblade wielder has demonstrated superhuman physical capabilities. Vertical jump, physical strength, agility, endurance, you name it. I hear some can fly, too, but that's more of an effect of magic than using a Keyblade."

A smirk grew on Ardent's face. "So if I challenged you to an arm wrestle right now, you'd beat me?"

Cynaris straightened up. "Uh… Maybe?"

Ardent laughed through his nose. "Nah, I won't try it. So, I know you can wield the Keyblade, but I don't really see it anywhere on your person…"

"That's because Keyblades can just be summoned out of thin air," Cynaris explained waving a hand in front of her. "It's one of the most convenient functions, if you ask me. If it falls out of your hands, you can use that trick to bring it right back."

"Can you demonstrate?"

"No problem." Cynaris moved her left hand off the table and raised it to the level of her eye, palm open. "Sit back a little." Ardent leaned further back. He and Cynaris exchanged nods to summon the Keyblade, and when Cynaris closed her hand, a sword-like weapon appeared in a flash of bluish energy. She placed it atop the table. "This type of Keyblade is classified as an Excalibur."

Ardent smirked once again. "Flashy…" he muttered, examining the Keyblade Cynaris held in front of him. The Excalibur was simple in design. Towards the tip of the sword-like blade, there were thorns on each side, and the handle was no different from that of a normal sword's hilt, except that it extended near the base of the handle, and was shaped in a way that Ardent compared to a short, leafy vine. Even when he had memorizes all of its main features, Ardent continued to stare at it, as if he were considering something. Conclusively, he put his hands on the table.

"Alright, I'm convinced."

Cynaris tilted her head again. "Convinced?"

"I've decided that I _will _learn to use a Keyblade," Ardent answered, much to Cynaris' befuddlement.

"But, wasn't that always the plan?"

Ardent shook his head. "I actually planned on quitting at the right time, claiming that I didn't have what it takes. Now that I know the perks of the Keyblade, I think I'll give it a shot."

"So you were faking it," Cynaris said. "You must not be interested in this whole χ-blade thing with your father and the World, huh?"

"I won't deny it," Ardent said, shrugging. "It doesn't matter to me if we get the χ-blade or not. I just want a smooth life."

Cynaris grinned. "You're a prince, Ardent. I don't think you have a shot at this 'smooth life.'"

"Good thing that's what _you _think, and not what _I _think. Otherwise, I'd never get what I wanted." He crossed his arms again.

For a few moments, Cynaris just looked at his smug expression. "…How am I supposed to answer to that?"

Ardent began to chuckle, when suddenly, a violent tremor nearly threw the two of them off their seats. Cynaris' Excalibur slid off the edge of the table and fell onto the floor with a clang before disappearing in a blue flash. The tremor stopped as soon as it began, and the two of them stood instead of getting back onto their seats.

"What was that supposed to be?!" Ardent said, startled by the suddenness and intensity of the quake. His hand was on the table for support, and balance in case another such tremor followed.

"It's never happened before," Cynaris answered in a calmer manner. She went to the steel door leading out of the room, summoned Excalibur, and gripped the door's handle. "We should go see Morlock."

As soon as she ended her sentence, the ceiling collapsed and separated the two with a pile of debris. Dust and small pieces of shrapnel flew around, slowing Cynaris down by a few seconds before she decided to destroy the debris using her Keyblade. She stopped mid-swing when a human-shaped silhouette behind her caught her eye. With her guard up, she turned, and found a boy standing behind her.

The boy's eyes were something of a bright amber color, his skin was pale, and his hair was silvery. He looked to be about the same age as Ardent, though lankier and a little shorter. He was clad in a white shirt and a forest-green jacket, as well as black shoes and baggy, cream-colored pants. The boy supported himself on the wall with one arm, and looked to be a bit winded.

The boy's weak appearance didn't shake Cynaris. "Who are you?"

Instead of answering, the boy just breathed deeply a few more times before saying, "Two people... upper floors... they..."

After speaking, he collapsed onto the floor.

* * *

_**I feel like adding an author's note like this would ruin the mood so much. Oh well. I find it necessary. **_

_**Feedback would be much appreciated, and any Sue-alerts would be twice as appreciated. Thank you, and have a nice tomorrow, because today could end any minute now...**_

_**Note: Excalibur is the seventh Keyblade from the left in the picture of the ten Graveyard Keyblades. Edit 7/14/12: Also, DeRaza360 found a very, very funny typo. Can't believe no one else told me about it before. XD It's fixed, but the original error could be found in the reviews. Depending on when you're reading this, you could just click to find it or have to dig through.**_


	2. Allies and Opposition

**_That PC browser game is messin' up my fic, and as of now, it stands as the only hurdle in this – the only thing that makes it stray from the canon of the series (besides it being a fic, of course). The title of the game is Kingdom Hearts: χ ('key'/ chi). Now, since it's totally a spin-off game, I'm not obsessing over it, but there are apparently _new characters_ and right now, I'm afraid of who they might be and stuff. It might break this thing like glass, and that would be devastating to me, since I put a lot of effort into tying it into what the reports say._**

**_So, my solution: try to make it so epic that people would prefer this to be canon than the game. XD (My plan's got a success chance of like, 0.1%, but I don't care.) It may hurt, but nothing's stopping me from getting this thing _done_. *insert evil laugh here*_**

**_No reports are elaborated on in this chapter, just some establishment. I can't explain things all the time, after all. Enjoy._**

* * *

**Allies and Opposition**

* * *

A great serpentine dragon glided serenely across the bright sky of the daytime, its golden whiskers flying back and forth with the flow of the wind. The dragon's scales were thick and an earthly green color, while its belly was yellowish and the two horns on its head were brown and slightly curved. Aligned with the dragon's spine was a line of golden, pointed scales. Its eyes were akin to a human's eyes, large enough for the dragon's head, and with hazel irises. Above its eyes were a pair of thick, black, eyebrow-like tufts, and its jaw was lined with something similar, giving the appearance of a beard. Its four small limbs were placed close to its body, claws tucked in do that it would fly more easily. From its nose to the fine tip of its tail, the dragon was at least as long as two houses. It looked to the side, at the girl that flew with it.

The girl had black hair tied in a ponytail, slightly tousled by the wind as she followed the dragon to their destination. Her eyes were dark brown, and her skin was somewhat fair. She wore a short robe that was the same color as the dragon she followed, though the collars of a red shirt stuck out of the robe's neckline. Her pants were dark gray and somewhat baggy, and her shoes were black. In her hands, she held a small bag that contained a gong. As she followed the dragon, her eyes squinted because of the sun's brightness. The dragon, however, seemed fine with the sun.

The two were sent by the Greater Dragons to deliver a gong to a world far away, and, as any dragon and dragon's apprentice would do, took the route in the air to reach their destination as soon as they could. Though the girl was not a dragon herself, she could easily travel with the dragon, as flight beyond the Keybearers' Gliding technique was one of the first things a dragon would teach.

Exasperated by the brightness of the sun, the girl held the bag up above her head and used it as a shade. "How much further until we get this job done, Master?" she asked.

The green dragon was referred to by the girl as 'Master,' though he was truly the Great Stone Dragon, a master of the forces of light and earth, and a skilled Keyblade wielder himself. By appearances, he was quite regal and awe-inspiring, though his true personality was not what his appearance would suggest.

"Geez, you just can't wait for a dragon to make its usual flight around the world, can you, J?" the dragon said to his apprentice.

His apprentice, whom the dragon occasionally called 'J,' had a true name, just as the Great Stone Dragon himself. Her name was Jalsca the Watchful, known by most as 'Jalsca' and by her Master sometimes as 'J'.

Her face bore an expression of disbelief. "Flight around the–" Jalsca's mouth moved, but no sounds came out, until she paused and began to speak normally again. "You mean you were just leisurely flying around the World all this time? As if we didn't have something important to do?"

"Uh, no," the dragon answered matter-of-factly. "Dragons have a job of keeping the peace around the World and making sure nothing's wrong, and to do that, we have to fly and keep an eye out. What, do you expect us to walk? Look at these legs." He stuck his front limbs out and stretched his claws. "You think they can help a dragon make a trip around a World as big as ours?"

Jalsca sighed in irritation. "Couldn't you have saved your peacekeeping for later? This gong isn't quite safe just yet."

"Oh, come on." The dragon tucked his limbs back and glided a little closer to his student, who was about the size of his head. "Who, pray tell, can join us up at this altitude and attack? Besides other dragons, of course. I mean, why would they do that?"

The dragon's apprentice scrunched her eyebrows, deep in thought for a retort. She came up with nothing. "Okay, you have a point."

"See?" The dragon expressed his delight by dancing in a snakelike motion as he flew. "That's why you gotta listen to the–" He stopped dancing, and frantically looked side to side. "Jalsca, stop."

The apprentice was alerted by the use of her actual name, and immediately ceased flight. "What?" She held the gong close, and looked side to side.

"Alright, I may have been wrong back there, about the sky being safe." He protectively encircled Jalsca. "Do you smell that?"

"You're kinda blocking the scent, but yeah." Jalsca sniffed the air. "Light. From a heart."

"Sniff harder," the dragon said. "There's some darkness in the mix, too."

"Also from the heart?" Jalsca asked.

The dragon nodded grimly, and sniffed the air again. "They're gone," he said. "Both of them. If we make a run for it now, we can probably outfly them." He went back into flight position. "Let's go."

"Right." Jalsca made to follow her master right away, but paused when she inhaled a fleeting, but strong hint of darkness. "Master!" She rushed to catch up with the dragon. "Master, I detected – Argh!" Jalsca was struck in the back by lightning, and the bag that held the gong slipped out of her hands due to her surprise. "Uh-oh." She rushed downward to catch the bag, simultaneously summoning in her right hand a Keyblade, in a flash of red flames.

The Keyblade Jalsca wielded had a wide blade that curved sharply into an incomplete circle, and a single spike in the middle of the blade's length. From within the curve and aligned with the spike on the blade, a fork-like object with three prongs jutted out, giving the Keyblade real 'teeth.' The guard was somewhat circular, and designed like a cloud of flame, though not shaped like one. The Keyblade was known as a Guardian Tiger, the same one that the Great Stone Dragon wielded during the rare occasion he wielded his Keyblade.

Using the Guardian Tiger, Jalsca cut through the air to dive towards the bag, but despite her best efforts, the bag still seemed to fall faster than Jalsca could chase it. As she attempted to increase her speed once more, she caught the scent of nearby light. When she turned her head towards the source, she found a blonde boy effortlessly keeping pace with her, falling only a few feet away from where she was. His eyes were brown, and his expression was blank – almost bored – as he just stared at Jalsca, who was wide-eyed at his sudden appearance. He wore a form-fitting, long-sleeved black shirt, and his arms were almost completely covered in black, lusterless armor. His pants were baggy, held in place by a dark gray belt, and he wore boots that seemed to be made of the same thing as his armor. He appeared to have a fairly athletic build, and his skin was lightly colored.

Jalsca spared no time in deciding that he was an enemy, and readied her Keyblade. "Who are you?!" she yelled thoughtlessly. "What do you want?!"

The boy answered only by turning his head towards the falling bag, and dashing towards it in a burst of wind, which blasted Jalsca away. Once she regained control over her flight, Jalsca could see that there was no way for her to reach the bag or the boy before he took it of himself. Nonetheless, she flew towards the bag again and aimed to shoot a ball of fire at the boy in black.

"Fire!" she yelled as she cast the spell. The fireball shot out of her Keyblade and closed in on the boy, though it burned out before it could reach its target. By then, he had succeeded in taking the bag, and was flying back upwards.

Seizing the opportunity for an attack to reach her enemy, Jalsca did what she could to intercept the boy's flight, but once again, he was moving too fast for her to catch up. At that point, the boy summoned a long, single-edged sword in wisps of golden light, and gripped it with his right hand. Despite the weapon, he did not attack, and merely continued his escape.

"Oh, no you don't!" she said, trying to fly towards the boy, but gravity weighed her down, and her top speed flying upwards didn't come close to his. The boy didn't even seem to be visibly affected by the downward pull of gravity. Jalsca slowed her flight. "Oh yeah he does, apparently…"

"Oh, no he doesn't!"

When Jalsca looked again at the boy, she watched him get rammed by the head of a green dragon, and both he and the bag began a long drop down.

"Master!" Jalsca flew towards her green-scaled master in ecstasy.

Her master told her to stop with just a firm glare. "I have to get the gong. Stay put, all right?" Without waiting for an answer, the dragon dashed towards the falling bag with speed rivalling sound.

Jalsca could do little more than listen to her master, and so just stayed in flight. Aside from the howl of the wind at her altitude, the skies were silent. She was so high up that the ground beneath her was just a patch of yellowish green, and the ocean about as blue as it usually was. She breathed deeply, and crossed her arms, watching a nearby cloud drift along with a few more if its kind. She looked down to see if her master was there yet. Squinting and finding nothing, she chuckled in that even a dragon his size could disappear with enough distance.

It was then that she remembered the boy, who also fell. "That was a weird guy…" she thought aloud to herself. "He must've been responsible for that lightning strike I felt before I saw him…" She scratched her head. "And he was wearing some pretty weird clothes, too. Man, this reeks of a conspiracy."

She pondered the topic for a few more moments, and then shrugged after being unable to piece anything together. "Just a funny dude in black with a metal gong obsession and the ability to fly at high speeds. All in an average day for a dragon's apprentice." Sure that no attacks would follow, Jalsca closed her eyes was she waited for her master to return.

She regretted doing so for an instant when lighting once again struck her, this time from in front of her, and powerful enough to knock her out cold. As she fell, her Keyblade slipped out of her hands and dismissed itself from its master.

* * *

The Galateia held fifty cabins, each of them the same size and uniformly furnished with a bunk bed, a nightstand, a small closet and an intercom mounted onto the wall. The bunk beds, nightstands, and closets were all made of the same type of wood, and were regularly maintained so that none of the people residing in the Galateia would complain, as Morlock disliked complainers, and took pride in his ship. The intercom bolted into the wall was made of metal, and had three buttons on it, all unlabelled as per Morlock's request. Each individual unit was modified depending on who resided in the room it was in, and whether Morlock trusted that person to use an intercom or not.

Lupus of the Mountain was one of those people that Morlock trusted with free use of the intercom units. He and Morlock were good friends, and Lupus often visited Morlock whenever the Galateia would land on Lupus' home world. They had known each other since Lupus was still a child, and Morlock trusted Lupus as much as he would trust any crew member on the ship.

However, Lupus looked nothing like a crew member would look. His eyes were amber and often wide with curiosity, and his hair was silver and well-kempt. His skin was pale, as he did not spend much time on physical activity, also evidenced by his lanky form. His clothes were more like what one would wear on an excursion – a clean white shirt, a forest-green jacket, cream-colored pants and black shoes. He also enjoyed sleeping too much for anyone working aboard an airship, and he tired far too easily. Nonetheless, Morlock enjoyed his company, and on the day Lupus decided to board the Galateia for an actual trip, he was immediately invited to speak with the captain.

The youth gladly accepted the invitation, and within five minutes, he and Morlock were in the captain's private meeting room.

"So, kupo, I understand this is your first real trip to a world outside, eh?" Morlock began the conversation.

Lupus laughed lightly. "Yeah… Honestly, I'm a little scared."

"Kupo, don't worry about the world outside," Morlock comforted him. "You've got the whole crew behind you, kupo. Nothing'll happen."

The amber-eyed youth blinked. "The whole crew? Everyone? Why?"

"Because we're friends, kupo!" the moogle answered, swaying as he floated above his seat. "That, and the crew does whatever I say, so if I tell them to like you, they will like you, kupo."

Once again, Lupus blinked. "Um…"

Morlock began to chuckle. "I'm just messin' with ya, kupo! I won't take away their free will. Kupo, I couldn't even if I tried."

Lupus breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good."

"Now on to more important issues, kupo," Morlock continued. "Why the trip in the first place?"

"Well, um…" Lupus scratched his head and looked at the corner of the room. "I… need a Keyblade…"

"Kupo, I can figure that much out," Morlock said. "But why, kupo, do you need one?"

"Um…" Lupus shifted his gaze to a different corner of the room. "…I…want to help my home world." He faced Morlock. "As in, help them prosper. Things like that. Maybe until they become as great as Radiant Garden or Ethereal Fortress."

"Kupo?" Morlock's right ear lowered in confusion. "Isn't the Gaian Empire already great enough for that?"

"It is pretty big, I guess." Lupus referred to his mental map of his homeworld. "I live in the Belheim Village, at the foot of a mountain. Close to that is Rebena, which is near a forest, and then there's the Ailasel kingdom, and that's on the opposite side of the world from Cornelia."

"I hear each of those places is pretty big on its own, eh, kupo?"

"Yeah, each of them is at least the size of a small town. Still, it's not exactly on Radiant Garden's level, and I want to change that."

"How will the Keyblade help you do that, kupo?" Morlock asked.

"I'd, uh, be able to do a lot with the Keyblade," Lupus answered. "If I had the power of a Keyblade wielder, I could do a lot, and that would no doubt help me."

At the end of Lupus' answer, the entire ship shook with force enough to move even Morlock, who was been afloat at the moment of the occurrence. The moogle was greatly baffled by the tremor, having not experienced anything like it during any regular voyage. It continued for a few moments, then ceased.

"D-did we hit something?" Lupus asked, shaken.

"I'd rather think something hit us, kupo." Morlock moved from his seat. "Follow me, kupo!" He wasted no further time in heading to the bridge.

"G-got it!" Lupus reacted to Morlock's call a fraction of a second late, and clumsily hurried to join Morlock.

The bridge was a short run across the hallway, marked by a thick, steel, double door with a small rectangular window on each side. The actual room was as spacious as the Galateia was wide, and the window that allowed Morlock and the others to see was almost the entire wall. In the front of the room, closest to the window, there was a long curved desk facing outside, with three glowing, green control panels lined beside each other, each attended to by one red-scarfed moogle. At the very center of the room, on an elevated platform was a single great table, the surface glowing green with energy. A seat was placed behind it, more ornate than any of the others. Morlock immediately took that seat upon entering the room.

"Alright, mogs!" he yelled. "What was responsible for shaking my Galateia?!" Lupus noted the lack of a 'kupo.'

"Kupo!" a red-scarfed moogle answered, turning towards his captain. "Something on the top deck, kupo, sir!"

"Three things, kupo!" another moogle tacked on. "They aren't other ships, kupo, captain. They're too small."

"What did you do about it?" Morlock asked.

"Nothing, sir!" the moogle answered. "We slowed the ship down to keep them in one place, kupo. We still don't know what they are, sir!"

"Well, whatever they were, they were enough to make my Galateia shake!" Morlock didn't seem angry as much as he seemed concerned about his ship. "I'll deal with them personally." He turned towards Lupus. "Lupus, kupo, come with me. I could use some backup."

Lupus stepped back in surprise. "What?"

"Kupo!" a blue-scarfed moogle said, floating towards Morlock. "Why not take me with you, sir?"

"You gotta watch the rest of the ship," Morlock answered immediately. "Could be more of 'em, kupo."

The moogle looked a little downcast at hearing his captain's orders, but quickly straightened up. "Understood, sir!" He went on his way to his usual position in the bridge.

"Kupo," Morlock said, nodding at his crew. "Everything's in order here. Let's go."

* * *

On the steel-shelled deck of the Galateia, two figures in black prepared a metallic, human-sized containment pod for Jalsca, who was unconscious when she crashed onto the ship. One of the two was the green-eyed girl that Jalsca had fought before, who was preparing the pod itself, while another was a tall teenage boy with a very thick build that made him look older than he was. His hair was chestnut brown, short, and unkempt, and his skin was tan. He had a square jaw, and blue eyes that were gentle at times, and solid at others. He wore the same set of clothes as the boy who attacked Jalsca, though his arms were more heavily armored, and he had additional armor on his chest as well. As he watched the green-eyed girl prepare the pod, he had Jalsca slung over his shoulder, handling her as if she were a sack of rice.

"Is she still asleep, Brazier?" the green-eyed girl asked her brown-haired companion. There was an unusual accent in her speech. "The pod's nearly ready."

Brazier shook Jalsca a little, and he answered when Jalsca made no response. "Pretty soundly, for someone who just crashed into an airship." To show that she noted Brazier's answer, the green-eyed girl just nodded, not feeling the need for conversation. Brazier thought otherwise. "Say, Kerraun," he said, "this girl's a Keyblade wielder, right?"

"Yes," Kerraun said. "That's why she's still alive. Anyone else who crashes into an airship with enough force to shake it would probably not survive." She pressed a few buttons on a pad at the side of the pod, and with a final conclusive button tap, stood. The pod whirred to life, with a weak blue glow emanating from inside it. "All right, give her to me."

"Catch." With little care, Brazier threw Jalsca's unconscious body towards Kerraun, who barely caught Jalsca by the shoulders. Kerraun was about to place Jalsca into the pod, when the Keyblade wielder's eyes slowly opened, and she returned to consciousness. Both Kerraun and Brazier held their breath as they watched Jalsca's drowsy gaze move between the two of them.

"Y-you guys…" Jalsca mumbled. "…The…gong…" Kerraun slowly tucked Jalsca into the pod, even as the sleepy girl continued to mumble. "Master… my… master is…" Jalsca rested peacefully inside the pod for a few moments, and then her eyes opened in sudden awareness. "My master!"

"No–!" Kerraun, Brazier and Jalsca summoned their weapons simultaneously, but Jalsca was already in the process of striking Kerraun as she summoned hers, and with a powerful swipe to the side, Kerraun flew a few feet in the air before crashing onto the ship's surface. Jalsca then glided upwards a considerable height and took aim at Brazier using her Keyblade, then dove down with all the speed she could muster, Keyblade piercing through the air.

Brazier's weapon was a meteor hammer – composed of two metallic, spherical hammerheads attached to opposite ends of an extending cord made of solid darkness – and in an attempt to shield himself from the incoming attack, he brought to two hammerheads close and braced for impact. Jalsca's attack sent the both of them diagonally through the steel armor of the ship, and onto the wooden floor of the deck below.

Unbeknownst to the both of them, Lupus, while running towards the top deck, was caught in the blast that pushed the two combatants down, and was hit by the surrounding force around Jalsca's attack. Morlock, who was ahead by a few feet and unaffected, rushed back to help Lupus up.

"You alright, kupo?" he asked.

"It hurt…" Lupus said. "…but yeah, I'm more or less okay." He saw Jalsca and Brazier in the distance of the hallway, both fighting using Fire magic, apparently.

"Kupo, this is too dangerous," Morlock said. "You should go back and get some more help. If you can, find a Keyblade wielder."

"Alright," Lupus said. He began to run to the staircase downwards that was only a few meters away from him, and climbed down, relying heavily on the handrail for support as his vision began to blur.

Luckily, almost as soon as he got down from the staircase, he found someone with an odd weapon, who intended to attack a wall of debris. He sprinted towards the person he found – a blonde girl, now that he got a closer look – and once he arrived, he had to lean on a wall just to stand.

The girl noticed him, and turned. Her stare was vaguely cold to Lupus, and she seemed to say something, but Lupus could only catch fragments of the words she said and a few foggy images of her mouth moving. As the last of his consciousness began to slip away, he uttered the bare minimum what he had to.

"Two people… upper floors… they…"

He felt himself hit the floor.

* * *

"Aris!" Ardent yelled at the wall of debris. "Aris, can you hear me?!" He paused to listen, only to hear nothing from the stone. Grumbling, his hand moved towards one of his pockets to grab his phone, but stopped in his tracks at the sound of swift, heavy footsteps from behind him. Warily, he turned. Whatever made the footsteps wasn't nearby yet, but it was approaching. He pulled out his Keyblade-shaped sword and pointed it in the direction of the footsteps, breathing deeply to call upon the powers of the light he held inside him. The light manifested in a wispy, pure white, aura that warped forces around him, giving the effect of an upwards draft from beneath his feet.

Ardent concentrated on the sound as it neared him, and acted the instant he saw a human figure open the door to the room he was in.

"Light!" From the point of his sword, he fired a bullet of light at the figure, who barely dodged it while uttering a surprised, "Whoa!" Taking another moment to look at what he shot at, he found that it was a black-haired girl who looked about his age, and she was looking at Ardent in what he could only think was a cross between a shocked stare and an irritated glower. She was in a crouched position after dodging the magic bullet, and in one of her hands was a Keyblade that Ardent had never seen before.

"What's your deal?" she asked angrily. "As if I have enough psychos to deal with…"

"Quiet," Ardent said firmly. "Are you an enemy or not?"

"As much as possible, not an enemy to you," the girl said, getting up. "My name is Jalsca the Watchful, an apprentice of the Great Stone Dragon as guardian, and I'm under attack by one or two freaks in black."

Ardent nodded. "I am Ardent the Wise, prince of Radiant Garden, and I was separated from my protector by this." He pointed at the wall of rubble behind him. "I was traveling with her so that I could become a Keyblade wielder, but now –"

Ardent was cut off by the sound of a weighty hammerhead being slammed on the floor above them.

"I'll help you," Jalsca said quickly, "if you'll help me deal with my attackers."

"If helping me includes reuniting me with my protector, then you've got a deal," Ardent said. "I'll do what I can, even if that might not be much to you."

Jalsca nodded. "Just hope you won't end up being a liability," she said, turning to the way that she came. "Follow me, and stay close, clear?"

"Understood." Ardent joined her side, gripping his sword. It was then that, armed with a keen eye for injury, he noticed her state. "Hold on," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Huh?" Jalsca looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"You're hurt," Ardent said.

Jalsca was unsure of how to react to that. "Well… yeah…"

"I think this trick is what makes me useful most," Ardent said, raising his sword above Jalsca's head. "Heal!" A ring of green light and an plant-shaped arrangement of light appeared momentarily above Jalsca's head. Following the disappearance of the light, Jalsca smiled.

"Thanks," she said. "I might have needed that."

"You looked like you did," Ardent said. "That's all I can do for now. Let's get going before we get caught in here."

The two went ahead without saying another word. As they climbed a staircase to the second floor, where Brazier waited, Jalsca spared a glance at Ardent, and wondered why exactly, in such a short time, he was so cooperative. Deciding just to count her blessings, she returned her focus to the task she had at hand – beating Brazier to a pulp.

* * *

Cynaris shook the boy by his shoulders, trying to rouse him awake. "Snap out of it, kid!" she yelled. "Hello? Anyone up there?" She stopped shaking him, waiting for a response. Nothing. Cynaris sighed. "…What am I going to do with you?"

"I say you just leave him."

Startled by the sudden voice, Cynaris looked frantically side to side, finding a duo clad in black from where the boy came from. One was a blonde boy with blue eyes who had his arms crossed, and the other was a green-eyed, black-haired girl who held a large shuriken in her right hand. The boy continued to speak.

"Trust me," he said. "It's better for the both of you."

"And why would I believe you?" Cynaris asked coldly.

The boy's eyebrows rose nigh-imperceptibly, as if he were surprised. "I'll admit that you make a point." He glanced at his companion. "Kerraun?"

"There's little point in pushing an immovable object," Kerraun answered. "The fastest and simplest course of action now is just to attack." She raised her shuriken, as if about to throw it at Cynaris and the boy. "And since she's so stubborn, we might as well do it no-holds-barred, regardless of any casualties."

The boy nodded. "You make a good point, too." With a swing of his arm and wisps of light, a single-edged sword appeared in his hand, and with a swing of the sword, sent a gust of wind to push Cynaris and the boy to the wall of rubble behind them. At the moment of collision, Cynaris felt the debris shift behind her. She thought quickly, and pointed her Keyblade in their direction.

"Freeze!" she said, firing a large piece of ice right between the two, who watched the ice disappear behind them.

"That was terrible," Pharos said, shaking his head. As he spoke, Cynaris's Keyblade was spinning towards him with a ring of blue light, and soon cut through him. He was stunned by the attack and fell to one knee.

Kerraun stared at her injured ally. "Pharos!" Without a second thought, she threw her shuriken at Cynaris, only for it to be intercepted by a small blast of dark energy as Cynaris ran towards Kerraun. The next instant, Cynaris had gotten behind Kerraun, holding the silver-haired boy in her right arm. Within the same second, Cynaris' Excalibur was held at Kerraun's neck, and the green-eyed girl was pushed to the wall.

"What do you want?" Cynaris asked.

Kerraun looked at the boy in Cynaris' arm before answering. "…To know where this ship is going."

Cynaris' aggressive expression was quickly replaced by one of confusion. "That's it?"

"Of course not," Kerraun said, crossing her arms under the Excalibur that was being held at her neck. "That information just happens to be more important to me than taking your life, which is apparently more important to Pharos." She recalled something as she looked to the side. "Forget what I said about attacking you. I meant for him to do most of the work."

"Hmph." Cynaris' Excalibur lowered slightly. "I'm not sure if I should be offended or thankful."

"There's no reason for you not to be both," Kerraun said, smirking.

Cynaris avoided eye contact when she spoke again. Her voice was barely over a croak, and as she answered, she couldn't recall why she was doing it. "…The Galateia is currently headed to the Land of Departure…"

"Thank you," Kerraun said sincerely. "Now, I think we each have someone that needs some help. I'd be willing to let you go if you do the same for us… or do you want to join them?"

Cynaris glared into Kerraun's eyes, but despite the Keyblade putting her in mortal danger, Kerraun's expression was unwaveringly calm – enlightened, even. The Keyblade wielder gripped her Excalibur, and then lowered it, taking a few steps away from Kerraun. "Get out."

Kerraun pulled one of Pharos' arms over her shoulders, and supported him by his torso using her other arm. From a pool of darkness beneath Kerraun's feet, black, immaterial tendrils enveloped her and Pharos, until they were completely covered in the darkness, and vanished.

Cynaris stared at length at the empty space that Kerraun and Pharos used to stand, her mind turbulent with worrisome thoughts. At the moment a crash sounded from above, she snapped herself out of her trance and raced to find the source of the sound, the boy in tow.

* * *

"Water!" Ardent yelled as a spout of water erupted from underneath Brazier. The boy was pushed up to the ceiling, a visible crack remaining as the spout died and he fell back onto the floor. As Brazier reeled on the floor, Ardent approached Jalsca, who was in a similar state, though leaning against the wall. "Are you alright?"

"Well, I could be worse," Jalsca said with clenched teeth. "Good spell."

"It's the only other offensive one I know to use," Ardent said humbly.

Jalsca stood. "Doesn't make it any less useful." Not caring for a response, she charged at Brazier, Keyblade forward. Brazier rose just in time to shoot a blast of fire from his palm at Jalsca, pushing her right back to the wall. Before she fell onto the floor, Brazier seized the opportunity to swing a blazing hammerhead at her, this time sending her through that same wall and blowing a hole through the solid partition and to the neighboring hallway.

"Jalsca!" Ardent exclaimed, as fearful for himself as he was for his companion.

A familiar voice responded to Ardent's own. "Ardent?" The prince blinked and looked at the newly blasted hole, where the voice came from. Cynaris quickly peered through it from the other side, a grin growing onto her face at the sight of Ardent.

"Ardent!" Cynaris said. "It's you!" She jumped through the hole with care not to hurt the boy she carried in the process. "What happened?"

"Duck!" Ardent yelled suddenly.

"Huh?" It took a split second for Cynaris to glance in Brazier's direction and duck another fireball. From behind her, Jalsca made a pained cry as the fireball seemed to have hit her. "Sorry!" Cynaris said.

"Don't apologize, just help us beat him!" Jalsca said, shoving herself off the wall and charging once again at Brazier, who brushed her aside with a simple punch in the right direction.

Meanwhile, Ardent ran to Cynaris and pulled her by the arm through the hole. They ducked to the side, listening to the clashing between Jalsca and Brazier while gathering their thoughts.

"Who's this kid?" Ardent asked, pointing at the silver-haired boy.

"No idea," Cynaris answered. "I just found him after we were separated."

As if he could hear himself being spoken about, the boy groaned awake. Ardent noticed and healed him with a quick Cure spell, and in an instant, the boy was looking frantically side to side, trying to understand what was happening around him.

"Relax," Cynaris said, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "There's, uh, just a scuffle nearby."

"Am I safe?" Lupus mumbled, awakening himself.

Jalsca joined the trio as she dodged a relatively sizable explosion. "Not while he's around," she said, inserting herself into the conversation.

"O-Okay." Lupus's eyes darted back and forth between the three people in front of him, occasionally looking at Brazier before finally settling on the corner of a wooden floorboard. "You two are Keyblade wielders," he said, referring to Cynaris and Jalsca, and then at Ardent, "and you know some magic, right?"

"Wow, how'd you figure all that out by yourself?" Jalsca asked.

"Lucky guesses, more or less," Lupus answered with a shrug. "I have an idea. Do any of you two Keyblade wielders know any non-elemental attacks?"

"Strike Raid," Cynaris said.

"Land Crash," Jalsca said.

Lupus pointed at Jalsca. "Land Crash. Now, you two," he pointed at Cynaris and Ardent. "What offensive spells do you know?"

"I know Water and Astra," Ardent answered.

"Blizzard and Void," Cynaris said.

"Perfect," Lupus said. "Okay, uh, here's my idea. You," he pointed at Jalsca, "will initiate a Land Crash, but you'll sustain it long enough for us to direct a Stone, Astra and Void spell at you. Afterwards, your attack will be, um, enhanced and will most likely knock that guy out."

Jalsca considered the idea while staring at Lupus incredulously. "…What?"

"Trust me. Magic augmentation is a good way to combine attacks."

"There's no reason for us not to try," Ardent said, keeping an eye on Brazier. "If you guys can't think of any reason we shouldn't give his idea a shot, then I say we do it."

"I'm up for it," Cynaris said.

Jalsca looked at them and sighed. "Okay… but don't blame me if it fails."

Lupus nodded. "Start the Land Crash."

Instantly, Jalsca leaped into the air and through the ceiling, staying afloat while glowing with golden light.

"Astra and Void, alright?" Lupus said to Ardent and Cynaris. He then pointed his palm in Jalsca's direction. "Earth!" From a magic hole on the floor, spires or rock flew up, but instead of hitting Jalsca like they normally would have, they circled her. The bullet of light and the burst of dark energy that Ardent and Cynaris shot acted similarly, and soon the three magic energies orbited Jalsca like the electrons of an atom. Jalsca needed every bit of concentration to keep the magic around her, and even more when she finally began to descend. As she became closer to her target, the three magic elements began to weave and intertwine with each other, until all that was left to surround Jalsca was a set of several black and white crystals and an ever-present golden aura. The speed of her descent increased until coming to an abrupt stop upon Jalsca's collision with Brazier.

The shock of the attack pierced through three of the ship's walls, managing to leave cracks in every one, while at the site of the collision, a cloud of dust prevented anyone from seeing the full result of the blast. Ardent, Cynaris and Lupus all approached the site of the impact, hoping silently that Jalsca succeeded in executing the attack. The dust and scattered fragments of floating crystals obscured their vision, but soon enough, they could make out a single human shape, lying on the floor and unmoving. Quickly, the three of them went to examine it, and see whose it was.

"It's Jalsca," Ardent said. Jalsca's sleeping expression was evidently tired, but undisturbed. Ardent stood up and looked at Lupus. "What happened to her?"

Lupus shrugged. "She probably used up a lot of her energy maintaining the magic for that attack," he answered. "She'll be fine if she gets the rest she needs."

"Hey," Cynaris said, waving at the two, "where's that other guy?"

Lupus and Ardent exchanged glances, then scanned the now clear room for Brazier or any of his possible affiliates. A ten second search yielded nothing. "He's gone," Ardent said. "Do you think the attack –"

"Nope," Lupus answered, anticipating Ardent's next words. "I'd guess he escaped just in time."

"In any case, he doesn't seem to be around anymore," Cynaris said. "If he were still around, then he probably would've attacked us by now." She gestured at Jalsca with one hand. "We're down one fighter, after all."

"If you guys are sure we're safe," Ardent said, reattaching the sword to the holster on his belt, "then we should probably move Jalsca somewhere else."

"You talk about her like she's a sack of potatoes," Lupus noted, inciting a breath of a laugh from Cynaris. "But yeah, we should put her in a vacant cabin or something." Lupus put one hand in his pocket and used the other to scratch the back of his head. "Uh, I can go talk to Morlock and make arrangements. In the meantime, you guys could… uh…"

"We'll carry her around with us," Cynaris continued for him. She then gave him a thumbs-up. "Better than leaving her on the floor like that, right?"

Ardent nodded. "I would just leave her somewhere if we had any idea on where to leave her, but since we don't, carrying her around is the next best thing."

"Great," Lupus said, smiling brightly. He began walking down the ravaged hallway. "I'll get goi – oh, geez, that's right." Before he finished his first step, he spun on his heel to face Cynaris and Ardent again. "I'm Lupus of the Mountain, from the Gaian Empire."

Cynaris broke into laughter. "Oh, yeah! We haven't even introduced each other yet!" As she laughed, she made clear attempts to speak, but couldn't get a single phrase in without another laugh.

Ardent, who was more composed, did both of them a favor and did the introductions. "I'm Ardent the Wise from Radiant Garden, Jalsca's full name is Jalsca the Watchful, and this," he pointed a thumb at Cynaris, who was beginning to settle down, "is Cynaris, my protector for this trip."

"Cynaris the Insightful, to be specific," she tacked on. "I don't quite have a homeworld, since I used to travel a lot before getting this protector job."

"It's nice to meet you," Lupus said, "Ardent, Cynaris, and, uh, Jalsca, I guess."

"Likewise," Ardent said. "In case you two have forgotten, we have an unconscious Keyblade wielder right there, and I think it's time we found a better place for her to rest."

"Agh!" Lupus exclaimed. "It slipped my mind for a second, there! I'll get right to it!" He wasted no time in sprinting down the hallway to find Morlock.

"Wait, Lucent!" Cynaris yelled, an arm outstretched in Lupus' direction.

"His name is 'Lupus'," Ardent corrected her.

"Lupus!" Cynaris repeated. "We need to follow you while we carry the sack of potatoes!"

Ardent sighed through a soft smile while listening to Cynaris laugh at her own joke. _I had a feeling I'd hear about that again._

* * *

"No way." The grin on Hielai's face grew while her eyes began to squint on their own. "You three couldn't take a gong from a measly dragon's _apprentice?" _The sheer hilarity of the news made her tremble as she struggled to keep the laughter from escaping. "I mean, all three of you? How hard is it to steal a bag?"

"Shut up, Hielai!" Brazier exploded. "You weren't there! It was more complicated than that."

"Pfft." Hielai rolled her eyes. "Excuse me if I decide to have my fun." She was a girl slightly younger and shorter than Kerraun, and she wore a uniform similar to what her other three companions wore, with the addition of armored gloves. Her hair was blue and sleek, and her eyes were purple and energetic. The side of her jaw rested in the palm of her hand as she leaned on the armrest of her chair, and the edges of her lips were pulled up in a condescending smile directed at the other three in the room.

Hielai was recently treated to the news that her three workmates, Pharos, Kerraun and Brazier, had failed in one of the simplest missions they have had in months, and prideful as she was, she enjoyed her chance to playfully shove their failure in their faces. It began when Kerraun had transported herself and Pharos to their headquarters – a well-hidden underground structure made of steel and armed with cutting-edge technology. When Hielai had asked what the matter was, Kerraun skipped answering to vanish in another dark corridor, only to reappear minutes later with Brazier. Once they had settled in, Hielai was given the gist of the mission's failure.

Kerraun sighed as she glanced at Pharos, who rested on a bed at the corner of the room. He was awake, his arms were folded, and his face was cross, but it was still clear that he needed to be on that bed. His glare intensified when he and Kerraun made eye contact, but it had little effect on Kerraun. "Hielai," she said, blocking Pharos' glare with the side of her head, "though I don't agree with the way Brazier dealt you the news, I do agree with what he said. Pharos, Brazier and I were overpowered by not the dragon's apprentice alone, but a combination of her, the dragon himself, a boy who knew about elemental augmentation, another Keyblade wielder and…" She trailed off, and a shadow of a smile glided across her face.

Hielai's smile twisted into a slight frown. "Are you gonna leave me hanging on that last note?"

Kerraun's eyes snapped to Hielai, her expression as solid as ever. "…and the prince of Radiant Garden."

"_What?!" _

Brazier, Kerraun and Hielai's heads jerked to the corner of the room, where Pharos sat up from his bed, looking at Kerraun is disbelief. "When and how did you come across that, Kerraun?" he insisted. "And why did you only say something about that now?"

"It needed to be confirmed before I said anything, of course," Kerraun said. "While at work, I came across talk that Prince Ardent the Wise was going to get a Keyblade as per his father's wishes, and that he would be accompanied by a Keyblade wielder called 'Cynaris.' As I was in the process of saving Brazier, I heard her name."

"Oh, lemme guess," Hielai chimed in. "That's when you guessed that the prince was there?"

"Yes," Kerraun said, "and I was reassured when I saw him perform that elemental augmentation with the other three. Furthermore, I learned from Cynaris herself that the ship was headed to the Land of Departure – where a well-known Keycrafter currently resides. Consistent with his objective of getting a Keyblade."

"You didn't mean to keep this information to yourself, did you, Kerraun?" Brazier asked.

"Of course not," Kerraun answered. "If I had, then I'd have done a better job than this."

"Hmph." Pharos lowered his head. "Though this is useful, it strays from our original purpose in the mission."

"Whichever one is more beneficial to us is what we're better off with," Kerraun answered.

Hielai sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, knowing where the prince is makes our goal a lot closer. If we can get him to cooperate."

"We'll ask Crescia what we should do next," Pharos said. "No one will act on their own."

* * *

Morlock was originally against allowing Jalsca any space in the cabins of his ship due to the damage she caused, but the combined reasoning of Lupus, Cynaris and Ardent finally convinced him to get Jalsca her own cabin, right next to Lupus' own. In that cabin, she was able to recuperate within three hours, while in the same three hours, the Great Stone Dragon tracked down the ship that she was in and requested a meeting with her on the top deck of the Galateia, as a dragon his size wouldn't fit anywhere inside the airship.

Upon her awakening, Jalsca heard her master's request and went off to meet him immediately, while Ardent, Cynaris and Lupus tagged along to see what was happening. There's they watched Jalsca grow increasingly distressed at her master's new orders.

"It wasn't my fault!" she yelled at the dragon. "None of this would've happened if those guys hadn't attacked me in the first place!"

"Now, c'mon, J," the Great Stone Dragon said, "first of all, it's your responsibility to make sure things like these don't happen at all. If you're there, it's your job to make sure nothing gets wrecked."

"But I tried!" Jalsca retorted. "Give me a break, master! There were, what, three of them?"

"It doesn't matter how many there were," the dragon said.

"But –"

"La-la la, la-la-la!" To make it clear that arguments were useless against him, the dragon began singing loudly, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Jalsca frowned. "Please, master, I don't want to have to fix…" She gestured at the hole on the roof of the airship. "…that. I _can't_ fix it."

"Yes, you can," the dragon said. "You just need some moolah, that's all."

"What?" Jalsca looked at her master oddly.

"You know, munny! To pay for the damages."

"Munny?" She put a hand on her shaking head. "Where am I going to start looking for that?"

"I dunno, go ask your friends there." The dragon used a claw to point at Ardent, Cynaris and Lupus, who each waved back awkwardly.

"My…" Jalsca's mouth moved, but her voice was absent. She shook her head, slumped down on the floor and spoke again. "Oh, man…. What are you getting me into…?"

"C'mon, girl, you can do this," the dragon encouraged her. "It might take a while, but you can get it done. Besides, while looking for munny, you can work on other things, like your flying skills."

"But I wanna learn how to be a guardian dragon from you!"

"And this is one of my tests," the dragon answered. "I'm not pushing my responsibilities onto you, J, I'm teaching you the responsibilities of a real guardian dragon. If you can't learn, you can't be one yourself."

For a good while, Jalsca stared at her master, at a loss for words, until finally, she gave a long, resigned sigh. "Fine."

"That's my girl!" The dragon nodded in approval. "Now, if you need any help, you won't know where to find me, but I'll sure know where to find you." He winked. "That's another dragon's responsibility. Are we okay, or no 'kay?"

Jalsca smiled weakly. "Okay. We're okay."

"O-kay!" The dragon rose from his place near the deck, as if it were about to take off. "Well, I'll be seein' ya, then! I'll be catching some criminals, some food, some z's, you know the drill. Later, J!" With another nod, the Great Stone Dragon glided off, much faster than Jalsca ever hoped to fly.

Cynaris approached Jalsca. "So, you want us to help on that munny collection?"

Jalsca blinked. "You're gonna what?"

"Well, I don't know about Ardent and Lupus," Cynaris said, "but I'll help out."

"I think I will, too," Lupus said. "I was kinda looking for some munny myself."

"Aw, thanks," Jalsca said. "What about you, Ardent?"

Ardent put his hands in his pockets. "I guess I'll tag along, too. No reason not to, anyway."

With swift, precise movement, Jalsca pulled Ardent closer to Lupus and Cynaris so that she could attempt to trap them all in a hug. "I haven't even known you for half a day, but you guys are the best!"

Cynaris' breathing was restricted, but she appreciated the gesture. "W-We try," she croaked.

Jalsca then let them go. "All right, now I'm gonna go and take another nap, if you guys don't mind."

"Whoa, don't go yet!" Lupus said suddenly. "Look over there!" He pointed in the direction that the ship moved forward.

A few worlds away, a range of green-topped mountains decorated crept into visibility, with a spiraling mountain acted as the central landform. A castle sat on that mountain, and it was shackled to the tallest of the mountains by golden chains and rings. Some of the shorter mountains were capped with lakes, and from those lakes were long, steady waterfalls that might've fallen forever if it weren't for the larger lakes at the feet of the mountain. The spires of stone were so high up that the castle, which wasn't even on the tallest mountain, stood higher than the clouds around it.

"Wow," Jalsca said. "That place looks... cool."

"It's the Land of Departure," Cynaris said.

* * *

**_KH: χ will include customizable characters and stuff. In the near future, people are gonna write fanfics about their special customized character inside that game, like they do in Pokémon and stuff. I called it, and I fear it. XD It'll be a new place for bad self-inserts and other OC's to come in, and the chances of someone making an actual good story with the idea is slimmer than the 'l' in 'slim,' not that I have no chance of being such a person. I'm freaking out right now, but I can't quite express it using a simple keyboard. Just take my word for it._**

**_I'm not opposed to the game itself, really. I'm just scared of what the fandom will do in response to it. (Still love you guys, though. :3)_**

**_Like in the last chapter, please inform me of any possible Sues in the story, since I'm introducing new characters here and there (and right behind you, hohoho). As always, reviews – praise, criticism, odd reactions, anything – are welcome._**

**_Also, if you're reviewing, then a small request of mine is for you to tell me what you think if I put the answers to questions on your reviews on the author's notes here. It's just a request, you don't have to do it, but I'd appreciate if you did. (And I'm very much aware that asking nicely makes things harder for some people to refuse. I know the feeling. XD)_**

**_...Man, I feel like I could've done better for this chapter. Maybe I'll rewrite it sometime._**

**_Note: Guardian Tiger is fifth from the left in the picture of the ten Graveyard Keyblades._**


	3. Encountering a Shadow

**_Okay, in case you guys are wondering where the orange, yellow and purple eye colors came from, each of them are natural eye colors. It a common misconception among KH fans to think that yellow eyes are a sign of darkness. In reality, no, they're just Xehanort's natural eye color. (This fact was only revealed in KH3D. As in, the not-a-darkness-sign thing.) The real reason for various characters' eye color change to yellow has something to do with that. Spoilers and stuff. For orange, it's Ansem the Wise's eye color, and for purple, it's Dilan's eye color. (I had no idea until I researched it. I surprised me, to be honest.) Also, just to be clear, Eraqus' eyes were gray. There are also no red-eyed people in KH, and there has been no evidence of hazel eyes. Yet._**

**_As for a certain character's temporary change from yellow eyes to brown eyes, I have no idea. XD And now, the parts of those report thingies that will be very slightly touched over or something in this chapter:_**

**__****_Keyblades are said to be man-made counterparts to Kingdom Hearts. _****_–Xehanort's Report VII_**

**__****_Special keychains allow the Keyblade's appearance and performance to be altered. _****_–Glossary: Keyblades (Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance)_**

* * *

**Encountering a Shadow**

* * *

A few silent moments passed as the four of them stared that the world they approached, enraptured by the aura of grandness the single castle radiated, even in the distance. They ignored the wind against their eyes as they watched the Land of Departure creep ever closer to them.

"The Land of Departure…" Ardent put on something of an enlightened smirk. "I thought it would take longer for us to get here."

Cynaris laughed knowingly. "Morlock might not have the best ship, but he's excellent in finding the fastest routes." She shaded her eyes with a hand. "But he's really outdone himself this time. I thought it'd take us three more hours at the least to get to where we are now."

"And it might just take us that long, kupo."

All four heads turned back to find a moogle floating over to join them atop the aircraft. "Kupo, with the damage done to the ship, it might take us a little while to get to the Land of Departure. Even as close as we are, kupo, making it in three hours would be unlikely."

"So we have to wait, then?" Ardent asked.

"'Fraid so, kupo," Morlock said, nodding.

"I don't mind waiting," Lupus said.

"Me too," Jalsca said, punctuating the sentence with a yawn. "Gives me more napping time." She waved at Morlock. "Say, Cap, where's the closest place I can get a nap in?"

Humans like Jalsca weren't able to see it, but the way Morlock's looked at Jalsca was somewhat less warm than the way he looked at the others. He was aware that she was largely responsible for the damage to the Galateia, but at the same time, he was also aware that he couldn't hold it against her entirely. Surely, if she hadn't been attacked, then a battle wouldn't have even begun, let alone take place on his airship and damage it.

Within the pause it took for Morlock to consider giving Jalsca a place to sleep, Lupus took it upon himself to answer. "I'm pretty sure the cabins are all accessible, even with the damage to the Galateia," he said. "If Morlock doesn't object to it, you can nap there."

"Sweet," Jalsca said, giving Lupus a thumbs-up as a gesture of thanks. "I'll get to the first one I see. Nighty-night, guys." She made her way to the nearest entrance to the Galateia – the gaping hole created in the battle – jumping through it without a care of height. The yawn that followed was audible to the others that remained.

Lupus chuckled lightheartedly. "Maybe I should get some rest, too. That was the most tiring thing I've ever done in my life."

"Go do that, kupo," Morlock said in agreement. "It will take us a while to get to the Land of Departure, like I said."

"Thank you," Lupus said. When he walked to the hole that Jalsca used to enter, however, he stopped, looking down in it with a slight bit of fright. "It's a way down…"

Ardent laughed. "If Aris and I go down first, will you be alright with us catching you?"

"Uh, no thanks," Lupus said, shaking his head. He thought himself a humble young man, but his pride didn't allow him to receive help in that manner. "I can… probably go myself…" He peered into the hole again, looking no surer of himself than he had been the last time he looked.

"No, you might end up hurting yourself," Cynaris said. "We'll go with Ardent's idea, whether he was kidding or not."

Lupus just glanced at Ardent, who sent a nonchalant shrug Lupus' way. Lupus sighed. "Okay, okay…" He felt a bit of gratitude, though it still hurt his pride as an independent person.

"Good," Cynaris said. "Let's go, Ardent."

"You're assuming I'm okay with jumping," Ardent said as he walked to the hole.

"Well, you're not refusing, are you?"

He nodded. "I'm fine with it. Just thought you'd ask." He jumped through. Cynaris quickly followed.

"Okay, you can jump now!" she said to Lupus. "Remember to look, though!"

"I got it!" Lupus gulped, peered down – Ardent was smirking as he waved at Lupus from below – and jumped. His eyes were shut when he felt two arms stop his descent. When he opened his eyes, he saw Ardent – wearing the same smirk – and Cynaris above him. Ardent seemed to have taken the weight of the lower half of his body, while Cynaris took the upper half.

"Good aim," Cynaris said as they set Lupus down.

"I didn't think that would work," Lupus said, shaken.

Ardent nodded in acknowledgement of Lupus' statement, and then studied his surroundings. He pointed at the nearest room he saw. "Jalsca's probably in there," he said.

"B-but…" Lupus seemed to have been saddened by the news. "That's my room…"

"No one's stopping you from using it," Cynaris said, "except maybe Jalsca, but I don't think she'd mind if you just stayed on the floor."

"Kupo!" Morlock floated down from the opening in the roof. "None of the other rooms are occupied, kupo, though we can't allow you to use those."

"Why not?" Ardent asked.

"We need them to be in perfect condition whenever they're not in use, kupo, by our honor as crew of the Galateia," Morlock said.

Cynaris had a hand on her chin. "So what you mean is…"

"Lupus, kupo, you have to use your room."

For a moment, Lupus stayed silent, hoping that soon, Morlock would suddenly reveal he was kidding and the he could just move to one of the vacant cabins. In that time, his gaze fluctuated between the moogle, Ardent and Cynaris, all of whom seemed indifferent to the news. He sighed. "Okay…"

* * *

Zenton watched in mild concern as Delesc held a golden medallion against the sky before placing it on the ground, beside a short piece of rope that was equally instrumental to her plan. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and spoke. "Hey."

Delesc looked up at him, her hand frozen in place a distance away from the medallion and the rope. She was just about to materialize her Keyblade. "Yeah?"

"This has a possibility of straining your heart, doesn't it?" The operation in question was a simple but considerably draining Keycrafting endeavor. No Keyblades were being created, however. Rather, their physical form was being modified with the use of simple everyday items, in this case, a golden medallion and a rope.

She blinked. "It's a big chance. The strain will most likely _not _be fatal, though." Her Keyblade appeared in her hand in a mix of light and darkness. "…Most likely." Delesc was a fifteen year-old brunette, gray-eyed. Her attire consisted of a bone-white collared shirt, blue pants, and black shoes, with the addition of a white, hooded shoulder cape that served no purpose besides concealed pockets. Aside from those, the equipment she required for her 'hobby' were a pair of custom lab goggles that allowed her to better see light and dark energy, and a pair of gloves that gave her more control of those same energies when they flowed through her hands or her Keyblade. The hobby in question pertained to the science of the heart and their connection to Keyblades.

Zenton nodded crossed his arms. "…You won't try to hurt yourself, will you?" He was a year older than Delesc, sporting black cargo pants, leather boots, a hunter green sleeveless long coat and blue shirt. Aside from that, he also had his own pair of gloves – though they didn't perform the same function as Delesc's – and a leather tool belt. His eyes were deep blue and sharp, while his hair was blonde.

The two of them shared a quality of pointed ears, the same home, and a past they disliked speaking of.

"Of course not," Delesc said, setting her Keyblade next to the two items on the ground. She then stood up, and spared a few seconds to look at Zenton, who reacted by turning his to the side in disinterest. Used to his attitude, Delesc smiled, and turned back to her Keyblade, closing her eyes. She held both her hands above the items on the ground as if there were some kind of invisible keyboard in the air before her, and focused two different energies in either hand – darkness in her right and light in her left, both energies manifesting in a ball of differently-colored electricity. A runic circle that glowed gold appeared on the ground, with the Keyblade at its center, and at the sidelines, Zenton recalled how he never could quite get used to seeing those otherworldly characters and diagrams, no matter how many times Delesc had made them appear.

A second circle – black – appeared above the first, at a height matching Delesc's. As Zenton was considerably taller than Delesc, he could see the top of the second circle very well, but when the bolts of dark lightning finally began to strike from it – at the same time as the golden lightning from the first circle, of course – the spaces between the lines hid the darkness in the illusion of the world through the spaces, as if the lightning wasn't there. But Zenton knew that if he looked under it, there were no illusions, and the lightning was plain as day.

When he decided to look at Delesc, she had already put her goggles on, as she needed to see to perform the next step. Zenton took a few cautious steps away, as he didn't have any protective gear for himself. He watched with a hand over his eyes as Delesc adjusted her stance and moved so that her right hand was above her left, and the palms faced each other. Zenton recalled a far-off memory of her explaining that it was to control the forces travelling through the runic circles, which were gates to the innate light and darkness in the heart.

Before continuing, Delesc turned to speak to Zenton. "You need to step a bit further away," she said, raising her voice just enough to overpower the crackling of the electricity. "I don't know if I can contain the energy flow very well once I begin the fusion."

Zenton nodded, thinking that speaking over the lightning was too much effort, and stepped back a few more feet. Delesc nodded back when he reached an acceptable distance, and then resumed her experiment.

There were many details under what strange manner of sorcery Delesc was performing, but to one who knew no better, she began by amplifying the amount of light and dark energy flowing through the gold and black circles, causing more bolts to appear. By creating more space between her hands, she moved the circles further apart, allowing dangerous stray bolts to escape, with one extending to strike the ground directly in front of Zenton. Delesc then slowly began to close her hands into a fist, while the lightning bolts simultaneously converged toward the center of the runic circles – toward the Keyblade. When her hands were closed into full fists, the light and dark electricity combined into a mess of black and white, and cracks began to appear on the runic circles.

Accompanied by the sound of shattering glass, an explosion of pure energy blinded Zenton, but there was no force behind it, and he was dazed by neither black nor white, but fragments of both. The instant his vision returned, he looked at Delesc, who was in the exact same position as she was before the explosion, fists in front of her. He took a single step in her direction, feeling some residual energy charging the air. "…Hey. Delesc."

Only a moment after her name was spoken, Delesc groaned, one hand limply falling to the side while the other gripped her head. Zenton rushed to her side when she began to stumble to the ground, barely keeping her head from colliding with the rough, solid stone below.

She grumbled something like a thanks without opening her eyes, and Zenton slowly laid her on the ground.

"You look like you overexerted yourself, there," Zenton said.

Delesc's voice was weak when she answered, but it sounded more like she had just awoken from sleep than overworked herself controlling lightning from her heart. "No, I didn't," she said, waving a hand in the air flippantly. "Considering how unstable the energy flow between the gates suddenly became at the most crucial point of the fusion, I could've just passed right in the middle of it." She slid her goggles back up over her forehead, but her eyes still didn't open. "Besides, I knew the whole thing was going to be unpredictable anyway. I wasn't_ too _close to putting any strain on my heart, in any case." When she finally opened her eyes, they were wide, as if unaffected by the bright rays of the sun almost directly above her, and she blinked a few times.

"Is something the matter?" Zenton asked, noting the strange way she stared into the sky.

"It's weird," she said. "It could be a side effect of fusing foreign material objects to Keyblades, but I seem to have lost my vision again."

"Is it permanent this time?"

She shrugged. "It only ever happens when I release too much energy from my heart at once, but this was a gradual release, so that shouldn't be the case…" She crossed her arms and closed her eyes again, which she often did when in thought. Only five seconds later, she shrugged, and said, "Nah, shouldn't be permanent, though I don't know when I'll be able to see again. Setting that issue aside for now, did it work?"

"I don't know," Zenton said. "What's supposed to happen?"

"Well, my Keyblade should've changed somehow, in shape, color, structure, anything." She waved a hand over her face. "I can't tell if something like color changed, since I can't see."

"Oh." Zenton hadn't paid any attention to Delesc's Keyblade since the experiment ended, so he took his first look at what should be a 'new' Keyblade. "It certainly looks different." Delesc's Keyblade, named Follow the Wind, had a circular guard with six pegs sticking out of the sides, and a coin-like object that separated the main blade and the handle. At the end of the blade – a long, simple bar – was something that had the shape of an anchor, but resembled the blade of an axe at the same time. "The shape itself hasn't changed."

Delesc had no reaction besides an even, "Go on…"

"But the thing on the hilt was replaced with the medallion, and the handle looks more like the steering wheel of a pirate ship," he said. "There's also something at the end of the handle; another medallion, and it's attached to the rest of the Keyblade with some kind of red string."

"That takes care of the medallion, then," Delesc said. Mentally, she noted the appearance of a second medallion to be somewhat more important compared to the other details. "What about the rope?"

"It's around the guard," Zenton said. "And those peg things that stuck out? They changed shape a little. As for the color, it almost looks completely different."

"Would you say different-good or different-bad?" Delesc asked.

"Different-okay," Zenton said.

"I wanna feel it." Delesc rematerialized her Keyblade and felt for the medallion of the hilt, running her fingers over the indentations that made the skull-like image. "Yeah, that feels about right." She smiled. "This is good. Now I can try the next step –"

"Not until you can see again, at least," Zenton said.

"Of course." Delesc dismissed her Follow the Wind. "By any chance, do you want me to try the same thing with your Keyblade, but with different objects?"

"No thanks."

"Thought so."

For a few long, silent moments, the two just sat there, silent for a lack of anything significant to say. Zenton was about to take a seat when Delesc finally spoke.

"Could you put me somewhere else? The back of my head is starting to hurt."

* * *

Cynaris opened the door and stepped into Lupus' cabin. "I just finished conducting a search for any routes to either of our rooms, Ardent."

Ardent sat on a chair in the corner, cross-armed. "Find anything?" He and Cynaris were planning to go to their own rooms, but every conventional way there appeared blocked by the chaos left from the battle.

"No." She shut the door. "Only that somehow, Jalsca miraculously managed to block off every way there with the rubble from the fight. And _just_ the rubble."

"That's not a very big deal," Ardent said. "Lupus was nice enough to let us stay in his room while we get to the Land of Departure. Why don't you just join us, Aris?"

She considered it. "Well, there's no reason for me not –"

_Ding_. The intercom mounted to the wall rang, and Morlock's voice said, _"Cynaris, you've got a call from some kid in the Land of Departure, kupo. Forgot his name, kupo."_

"Scratch that," Cynaris said, already gripping the door handle. "Guess I have to go again. I'll be back as soon as possible." She swiftly exited the room and shut the door.

Lupus, who sat at the foot of the bed that Jalsca slept in, spoke. "So, 'Aris'…"

Ardent raised an eyebrow in his direction. "What about 'Aris'?"

"Her name is 'Cynaris', right?" Lupus asked. Ardent nodded. "So, where'd the nickname come from? Have you guys been friends a long time?"

"Oh, I wanted to know too…" Jalsca turned over from the bed to face the other occupants of the room, bleary-eyed, but awake. "I had no idea who you were yelling to when I found you next to that pile of rocks and whatever… I heard it, yeah…"

"Actually, we only just met today," Ardent said. "She asked me to call her that, so I did."

"You're okay with that?" Lupus asked. "You might be mistaken for childhood friends or something."

"Truthfully, my dad raised me to make good relations with people early on," Ardent said. "It was advantageous to the both of us, though I'm not sure if it's always the case. Cynaris seems fine with it, anyway."

"Hold up." Jalsca's hand was held up, though she was still lying on the bed. "Just earlier, you were calling her 'Aris', but now it's 'Cynaris'?"

"I call her 'Aris', but when I'm talking about her without her in the room, it's 'Cynaris'." He scratched his head. "Why are you guys so interested in what I call her?"

Lupus pointed at himself with his thumb. "I'm not that interested." He pointed at Jalsca. "She is, though."

"Yeah," Jalsca said. "You have some pretty funny rules for nicknames, Ardent."

"It's more comfortable for me. If you want, I can just call her 'Cynaris' instead. That way we can just drop this topic."

As if to end the conversation right there, Cynaris opened the door and re-entered the room. "Guys, I have some news."

"Fire away," Ardent said.

"I spoke to Sceore, a friend of mine from the land of Departure, and he knows the Keycrafter and another resident of the Land of Departure. Apparently, the three of them were the only one inhabiting the castle for a while before we left and right now, he's the only one at the castle. The other two won't be back for a while."

"A while?" Ardent said. "How long is that?"

"Sceore estimated several hours," Cynaris said. "He didn't give me any particular numbers."

"That's not too big a problem," Lupus said. "We'll just stick around until they come back, right?"

Ardent shrugged. "I guess."

"Can we stay in the castle?" Jalsca asked. "The only person there is that Sceore guy, right?"

"Maybe," Cynaris said. "The two of us aren't exactly the best of friends, but we're better than just acquaintances. I guess I can ask him."

"Sweet," Jalsca said. "I'm really grateful for your connections, Aris. You must know a lot of people."

Cynaris blinked at Jalsca. "…'Aris'?" On his corner of the room, Ardent's gaze fluctuated between the two. Part of him was interested in what was about to happen next, while another part dreaded it.

"Yeah," Jalsca said. "I heard Ardent calling you that. Is it okay if I do?" As if she weren't listening to the question, Cynaris was looking to the side, arms crosses and eyelids somewhat low. When she saw this, Jalsca's face was stricken with fear that she did something wrong, and she pushed herself off the bed. "D-Did I say something wrong?"

Snapping out of what appeared to have been some sort of trance, Cynaris shook her head and put on a weak smile. "I-it's fine. You can call me 'Aris' if you want."

"How about me?" Lupus asked.

"Sure," Cynaris said. Ardent wasn't sure if it was because he was slightly detached from the events before him that he noticed, but the certainty in Cynaris' voice during her agreement seemed to waver.

* * *

Sitting on the chair once occupied by Ardent, Jalsca watched the clock hanging from the wall next to her as the second hand ticked its way past the twelve. "And that marks our third hour." She snapped her fingers. "Is there anyone who wants to check out the flight deck with me?"

"Been there," Lupus said.

"So have we," Cynaris said, referring to herself and Ardent.

Jalsca stood. "I meant to see how much closer we are to that world we're heading to."

"The Land of Departure?" Ardent said.

Jalsca nodded quickly. "Yeah, that place. Anyone?"

"Um, is there any reason you're asking?" Lupus asked. "I mean, I'm not trying to derogate or something. I'm honestly wondering, 'cause, if you need someone to accompany you, then I'd be fine with that."

"The only reason I'm asking is to know if any of you wants to go and check it out with me," Jalsca said. "But you guys aren't interested, so I'll just be –"

_Ding. _Morlock's familiar voice returned to the room through the intercom after a small ring, and his message was short and to the point. _"We're here, kupo."_

"Never mind," Jalsca said. She merrily stepped out the room, proceeding to fly down the hall.

Ardent stood and walked to the door that hung open. "I was expecting it to take longer than three hours, really."

Cynaris followed. "Morlock tried his best to exceed expectations when it comes to the Galateia. My guess is that he used his wind magic to speed things up a bit."

The prince looked at her quizzically as they sauntered down the hall. "Morlock knows magic?"

"Every spell in the Aero family, including the branched spells like Cyclone. He's even studying Water spells, now." Her eyes lit up. "Maybe you could teach him, Ardent!"

Ardent tried his best to give a modest smile. "I don't think so. The only Water spell I know is, well, Water."

"Guys."

Ardent and Cynaris turned to find Lupus. "Jalsca went ahead of us, right?"

"Yeah," Ardent said. "Why?"

"Does she know where the exit is?"

Simultaneously, the three of them turned their heads in the direction that Jalsca flew in, thinking. With their gazes, they detected Jalsca flying through the end of the hallway, to go through another opening in the ceiling.

Ardent's expression was one of indifference. "…She found a way out."

Cynaris nodded, grinning. "Flying looks pretty fun, don't you think?"

The three of them continued in their walk to the exit of the Galateia – which luckily wasn't one of the areas blocked off by debris – and Ardent answered, "It's convenient, I'll give you that."

It was only a hallway's walk and a few detours until they reached the exit they looked for, and in that time, Cynaris told Ardent that they'd retrieve their belongings later, assuming they were still intact. There was no surface for the Galateia to land of properly, so it hovered by the edge of the mountaintop that the castle rested on, extending a bridge so that the passengers could disembark safely. Standing outside the Galateia, on the forecourt of the Land of Departure and with her hands on her hips, Jalsca stared at the castle, a wide grin plastered onto her face. "It's huge! And there's just one person in there right now!" she said to the wind. A chain of thought allowed Ardent to conclude that she flew out of the Galateia.

"The Land of Departure," Cynaris said, joining Jalsca, who jumped in surprise, "is the secondary headquarters of the Vanguard. It's only secondary because most of their main activities take place in the Union Skyscraper. That place is in another world not too far from this one."

Upon hearing the familiar word 'Vanguard', Ardent's face flashed with sudden recollection. "What _are _they, anyway?" he asked. "The Vanguard, I mean."

"Didn't I tell you?" Cynaris asked. Ardent shook his head. "Well, put it simply, they're a group of innovators in different fields, all of which concern the Keyblade or warfare. A person can be invited to join the Vanguard after they've done something to advance or improve the field they're known for."

"I see." Ardent nodded, rolling the details over in his mind. "Is the Keycrafter a member of the Vanguard?"

"Ours? Yes. Known for developing Keyblade transformation and one of the youngest people to join the Vanguard. She's fifteen."

Ardent's eyes widened, and be was engulfed in a sudden coughing fit. After regaining a fraction of his composure, he said, "What?"

Cynaris was bewildered. "Wh-What, 'What?'"

Both of his eyebrows were raised in an inquisitive yet undeniably shocked manner. The same traits were evident in his voice. "The person I'll be getting my Keyblade from is a fifteen year-old girl?"

Cynaris' lips lifted into an awkward grin. "Y-Yes. Didn't I tell you?"

"No, you didn't," Ardent said, his composure fully recovered. When he spoke again, he sounded somewhat amused. "Somehow you avoided giving me both of those details without any effort."

"Yeah, strange, isn't it?" Cynaris laughed airily. "Is it a problem?"

"No, no, of course not." Ardent looked at the patterns on the ground and put a hand on his head. "It just came as a huge surprise. The only other Keycrafter I'd ever known was Kye, and he's, well, the opposite of a fifteen year-old girl."

Someone cleared their throat in the manner that was obviously a call for attention. Ardent and Cynaris turned their heads toward the sound to find Jalsca, whose hand was fisted in front of her mouth, and Lupus, who merely waved at them. Jalsca subtly elbowed Lupus so that he could explain. "We were, uh, going to go ahead, but then we remembered that Cynaris would be pretty useful in talking to Sceore, so…"

"Oh!" Cynaris quickly walked to them. "Right. Sorry."

"Apology accepted," Jalsca said. "Now let's get moving."

"Of course." Before walking ahead, Cynaris turned to face the Galateia, and yelled in the loudest voice she could, "Thanks for the ride, Captain Morlock!"

If Morlock gave a sign of acknowledgement, he was too small for the gesture to be seen and too far away to be heard. Cynaris and Lupus reasoned that Morlock's airship wouldn't quite be going too far away in any case, as the interior was too thoroughly devastated – Jalsca coughed at this – to make any long trips, so the four of them went ahead to the stairs of the front doors of the castle.

As they reached the last few steps, the one of the doors rumbled open, and a brown-haired boy with wide purple eyes and tan skin stepped out, waving and offering a warm smile in their direction. He wore a white shirt over red jacket, and had on a pair of black boots and fingerless gloves of the same color. His baggy pants were light brown and stuffed into his boots, and from his waist, a piece of black cloth hung over his left thigh, like a short cape. Notably to Ardent, the grinning boy's hair was messy enough for natural spikes to form. He looked to be about the same age as the rest of the group.

"Welcome back, Aris!" The boy descended down the stairs with speed just short of running.

"Thank you," Cynaris said with a nod, continuing her climb. She turned her head just a few degrees toward the rest of the group. "Everyone, this is Sceore. He's another member of the Vanguard."

Sceore raised his hand at the sound of his name, and walked in step with the others. "Yo. Which one of you is Prince Ardent the Wise?"

"That would be me," Ardent said.

"I see," Sceore said. "So you're the one looking for a Keyblade, right?"

"That's right."

Lupus quickened his pace, nearly tripping because as he did, they reached the end of the staircase. "H-He's not the only one, though!"

One of Sceore's eyebrows rose. "Oh, really? And I guess you're the other one, Captain Eager?"

The amber-eyed boy's grin turned sheepish. "Hehe, yeah…"

"Okay, then." Sceore laxly put his hands behind his head. "I don't know what Delesc's gonna say about two clients, though. I mean, she'll probably be okay with it, but she might also be pretty tired by the time she gets back."

"And speaking of the Vanguard," Ardent said, with a bit of hesitation around the new term he had recently learned of, "Aris told me that you and Delesc were members." Sceore nodded without making the effort to look at Ardent. "Does that mean you both have Keyblades?"

"Excuse me, Sir Knows-a-lot, but it's not a requirement for the great members of the Vanguard to have Keyblades," Sceore said with a wide smirk. Ardent let the name pass as he formulate a response, but he detected a continuation of Sceore's statement from the boy's expression.

He was right, and Sceore's ever-present smile grew a tooth wider. "But! That doesn't mean I don't have one!" He skipped back, raised his right hand, and with a brilliant blue flame, summoned a Keyblade, deftly spinning it above his head before pointing it at the group. "Ta-da!" he said. "Fenrir! Coolest of the ten Keyblades!" Fenrir was a Keyblade resembling Excalibur in shape, but much more mechanical in appearance. The blade was like a sword, and did, in fact look like a few of the more modern keys that Ardent had seen in his life, - pin tumbler lock keys, as he had once read – and the guard had two protrusions sticking out from the base of the blade. For reasons that no one could quite fathom, there were bandages along the base of the blade, as well.

Ardent offered an appreciative applause for the theatrical little stunt, while Lupus exclaimed a very impressed, "Whoa!" Sceore then began to bow over and over again, muttering words of thanks more fitting for an actual performer.

"Well, then," Cynaris said, walking to Sceore. "Sceore, we still have one person to introduce you to." She gestured to Jalsca with an open hand. The girl had been scanning their surroundings almost the entire visit and was silent the entire time. Her expression didn't indicate any appreciation of the scenery, instead bearing an air of wary vigilance. "That is Jalsca, an apprentice of the Great Stone Dragon. She's not here to get a Keyblade, but she's still a friend." After a few moments of silence, Cynaris called attention to Jalsca's unusual unresponsiveness. "Jalsca?"

"Huh?" Jalsca looked like she had some out of a daydream, but quickly regained he bearings. "Yeah, hi everyone." She spared no time in resuming her quick glances every which way.

Sceore became curious. "Yo, J!" Seemingly reacting to Sceore's call, Jalsca turned to look out the door, then the windows, and then proceeded to contort her face in confusion when she couldn't fine what she was looking for. Sceore tried again. "Yo, J!" With the same level of alarm, Jalsca looked at him with wide eyes.

"How did you know my nickname?" she asked.

"That was your nickname?" Sceore chuckled. "Cool coincidence. I had no idea, honestly. I just wanted to know what's gotten you so jittery. Allergic to awesomeness or something?"

"N-No," Jalsca said, recovering. "Do any of you guys smell – I'm sorry, _feel, _if you can– any darkness approaching? Like, a whole lot of it?"

Everyone shook their heads, but Sceore asked, "You can _smell _that stuff?" No one paid him any mind.

From out the doorway, the five of them heard an anguished cry of what must've been a young man. Jalsca reacted first. "I found it!" she yelled, soaring out the doors she forcefully shoved open. Sceore was right behind her, already in a fighting position since his Keyblade was already present. The remaining three followed them, Ardent preparing his sword, Cynaris summoning her Keyblade, and Lupus, who, despite being unarmed and initially hesitant, running fastest. They were met with the sight of a boy who seemed to be running aflame in darkness across the forecourt, clutching a Keyblade in his right hand and slashing blindly at random objects, as if in a fit of extreme rage. The first thing Ardent spotted that suffered the odd boy's wrath was the arch that they had passed under as they climbed the stairs. Chunks of stone were on the ground, and the arch itself seemed just about to crumble.

Ardent was startled by the clang of metal on metal, and looked in the direction of the sound. Jalsca and the boy had their Keyblades locked against each other, evenly matched, but Jalsca had the advantage in numbers. Sceore's Fenrir was crackling with yellow electricity as he leaped from behind Jalsca and brought his weapon down against the boy, knocking him away a fair distance. With a furious roar, though, he got back up on his feet, and the darkness that erupted from him pushed Jalsca and Sceore away.

From the side of Ardent's vision, Lupus had begun running down the stairs. The prince joined the silver-haired boy. "Will that elemental trick work again?"

Lupus was slightly startled by Ardent's voice, but answered quickly. "I don't think so," he said. "Look at him. He's moving too fast for a Land Crash to hit." The boy covered in dark flames was, indeed, moving faster than anything Ardent had ever seen before, and erratically, at that, making it near-impossible to predict where he'd go next. "If a Land Crash can't hit him, then there's no way a Planet Crash can." Lupus looked at Ardent. "Before you ask, these moves have names. I just needed to get that out of the way."

"All right, then." Ardent stopped running for a moment to fire a bullet of light at the boy. The bullet itself travelled faster than the boy, but Ardent couldn't tell if it hit him, because if it did, then he just kept rushing about like nothing happened. "Any other ideas?"

"Let me think." Lupus split off from Ardent, dodging a projectile of darkness that headed towards him. Meanwhile, Ardent tried to catch the boy in a Water spell, but he outran it, and proceeded to blast Ardent away with darkness.

He recovered quickly and cast a Cure spell on himself before he could even become aware of the pain. "I'm okay!"

Jalsca glided past him. "Good!" She cast a homing Fire spell at the boy, who accidentally ran into it and got blown back, off-balance. "I wish that happened more often!" she said to no one in particular.

"Wait!" Lupus yelled. "Stone!" Small pieces of rock erupted from a small void on the ground, keeping the boy airborne and unable to move. "Now's our chance! Hit him!"

"I'm way ahead of ya!" Sceore was in the air, too, when Lupus looked. The Keybearer's Fenrir was alight with fire, and he slashed the boy engulfed in darkness before land back on the ground. At the same time, Cynaris, Ardent and Lupus decided to perform the same trick they did before, and fired some of their respective magic at Jalsca, who caught on quickly. It was easier for her to execute the attack that time, having done it before and being airborne, and almost as soon as the magic had reached her, she proceeded to shoot down from the sky, striking her target head-on.

Lupus cheered. "Yes!" The others did the same, as once the boy was down, he didn't struggle.

Jalsca was panting when she returned to the ground, and when she noticed the boy's defeated state, she allowed herself to sit. "Whoa…" She took a deep breath. "Guys… I didn't pass out this time… haha…"

Ardent saw the boy's leg quirk, and he had his sword ready in an instant. Sceore noticed, as well, and warned the others. "Don't celebrate just yet. I think this guy's interested in an encore."

Jalsca straightened up to complain, but at the same time, the boy forced himself up, streams of darkness still rising from his body. Now that most of the darkness that covered him was gone, Ardent was finally able to see a few details about the boy's appearance. His hair was brown, and his skin was about the same tone as Ardent's. He wore a skin-tight black shirt and a dark red vest over it, and some steel armor on his forearms. His pants were dark olive green, and his shoes were made of leather. Ardent was too far away from him to have a look at his eye color, but he didn't dare approach just to have a closer look.

For a few seconds, the boy just stood there, an arm on his knee for support. All five of his opponents were watching him carefully, preparing themselves for any attack that may come their way.

Without any signs of warning, the boy roared, startling everyone around him long enough so that he could charge at the first person he saw – Jalsca. He was closing in fast for a stab, and Sceore moved a little too late to stop him.

Fortunately, a bullet of darkness hit the boy on his side, pushing him off-balance before his attack could connect.

"Delesc!" Sceore exclaimed, looking in the air. Ardent followed his gaze, finding a small, sleek, black aircraft and a person standing on it, holding an oddly-shaped longbow. It didn't appear to be made of flexible material – in fact, it seemed to be made of metal, save for possibly the grip, and the guard of the grip – but it didn't have any bowstring, either, so Ardent reasoned the longbow had other means to function.

The aircraft smoothly glided to an open space on the forecourt as the person standing on it fired another 'arrow' from the bow, this time made of light, and then following it up with two more – one of light and one of darkness. The archer firing the arrows of energy seemed to be the one that Sceore addressed as 'Delesc', and she matched Cynaris' description.

As Delesc continued to fire incessantly at the boy, a young man in a sleeveless long coat calmly stepped out of the aircraft, materializing a Keyblade in his right hand with white electricity. Ardent didn't know what the young man's name was, but he recalled Cynaris saying something about a person going with Delesc, and assumed he was that person.

His Keyblade was purely gray, and the spike-covered guard didn't reach to the end of the hilt. The blade was straight and featureless, but the teeth curved outward, like a hook, and spikes protruded from the outer edge in the same manner as the guard. A closed ring separated the grip from the blade, and at the base of the handle, there was some sort of protrusion. Ardent didn't know the name of the young man's Keyblade, either.

The young man held his Keyblade in front of him and let go of it, allowing the weapon to be suspended in the air. With a flash, the Keyblade vanished, and the young man's forearms were covered in thick armor, though the area around his fist had no fingers. Where the fingers were supposed to be, however, short, curved blades of light appeared, and the young man was essentially armed with claws.

Connecting the dots, Ardent guessed that his Keyblade had somehow transformed into the armor, and it was the same case with Delesc's longbow.

Sceore spoke again. "Hey, Delesc!" he yelled. "You're early!"

While approaching Sceore, Delesc fired a few arrows at the boy, who tried in vain to take them head on. "Well, my project was cut short," she said, firing another pair of arrows. The energy seemed to flow out of her hand, and Ardent noticed that she had to put her shooting hand next to her gripping one before pulling it back to fire. "I'm sure Zenton is happy about that detail."

The young man in the long coat overheard, and instead of attacking the enemy, he joined the conversation. "And I am. Who is _this, _Sceore? Did he come with the prince?" His tone was irritated and bitter.

"Hey, he just popped out of nowhere. Maybe even literally. But never mind that." Sceore pointed at the boy who was being rained on by arrows. "How many more times does Delesc have to shoot him before you try beating him yourself?"

"Shut up," the one called 'Zenton' said, proceeding to charge at the boy. Delesc ceased fire to make way for Zenton, transforming her longbow back to its regular form as a Keyblade. Zenton, meanwhile, assaulted the boy with a barrage of slashes, with the light from the claws leaving glowing white trails behind it. Every separate slash seemed to push the boy back a fair distance, and it was clear that he was finally beginning to weaken, but the boy's arm seemed to act on its own, moving for a slash at Zenton at the smallest opening. The boy's attack was successful, and powerful enough to thrust Zenton several feet away from him. At once, the dark flames that surrounded him flared up again, and he looked to be good as new.

"Geez," Jalsca said, preparing to attack. "This guy just doesn't seem to run out of juice!"

Delesc heard her, and, not caring who said it, responded. "That means he's been fighting for quite some time already." She put on her goggles, watching the boy return to dashing throughout the forecourt and recklessly destroying even more stone structures. "That's incredible… There's so much unstable darkness inside him that it's overtaken his mind. He's literally attacking without thinking, and he's got no choice…" To Ardent's ear, her voice held no pity, but rather, a bit of amazement and investigative interest in the boy. "This is the first time I've seen a person's heart take action over a person's will…"

Cynaris was shooting another sphere of darkness at the boy when she called for Delesc to snap out of her distraction. "_Delesc! _We could use a hand!"

Delesc's head shook, and she quickly turned her Keyblade into the longbow one more. "I need you guys to cover me!"

"Got it!" Sceore was eager to return to action after receiving a silent order not to get in Zenton's way as he fought. He covered his Keyblade with Ice-elemental energy and slashed downwards at the boy with incredible speed, allowing a small spire of ice to rise from where his Keyblade hit the ground. The others quickly followed suit, firing spells and getting physical attacks in whenever possible.

Zenton moved with agility that almost matched the boy, and began to slash relentlessly at the enemy, only stopping to dodge attacks like the one that caught him last time. When he was unable to dodge one of those attacks, he managed to grip the blade of the boy's Keyblade using the clawed armor he wore, and used that to swing the boy around and slam him onto the ground.

From the back lines, the front of Delesc's bow was covered in a blue runic circle, and she focused on the boy, waiting for the ideal time to fire as she charged up the circle with energy. To her surprise, the boy charged at her, and she took that moment to fire, releasing bolts of light energy from the runic circle. For a moment, the electricity surrounded the boy, making him tremble and quake in what seemed to be pain, and when it stopped, the boy fell to his knees and onto the ground, his Keyblade disappearing in the final flame of darkness that they saw in the fight.

Ardent ran over to the boy, Cure spell at the ready, but before he did anything, he turned to Delesc, whose Keyblade had vanished. "Did you – "

"I didn't kill him," Delesc said, staring at the ground in front of her. "I temporarily neutralized the outward flow of darkness in his heart. It should be contained, but for how long is up to him entirely."

Zenton didn't appear to like what he heard, because he spoke even more bitterly than he had before as he waked to Delesc. "You mean you're leaving our safety in the hands of someone you barely know?! What if he wakes up right now and starts attacking again?!"

"The lock on his darkness is guaranteed to stay there until he wakes up," she said.

"And when he's awake? What then?" Zenton growled in frustration and pinched the bridge of his nose. "These kinds of things are _exactly _why we're the way we are now, Delesc."

Delesc's eyes widened almost imperceptibly under her goggles, though her gaze remained fixated on the ground. "I'll admit that."

"So?"

"I've already formulated a number of hypotheses regarding the amount of unstable darkness in his heart." Delesc turned her head toward the boy and nodded, pushing her goggles back over her head. "Occurrences like these aren't unheard of. I have a gut feeling that there's a common quality between this event and those. And if that proves false, then I still have a number of backups that I'll be able to test after bit of analysis."

"No!" Zenton said. "I don't want you to use another human as a lab rat!"

"He's not a lab rat in this case, Zenton," Delesc said. "He's more of a patient with an obscure disease. Besides, do you want him to go jumping around, destroying everything?"

Thoroughly exasperated by the topic, Zenton sighed, and turned away. "I have to go put the jet where it belongs. Do what you want."

"Sceore," Delesc said. Sceore, though caught off-guard by the suddenness of Delesc's call, saluted in jest at her. "Could you help me bring him to the lab?"

"Sure!" Sceore agreed. "But first, can we talk about these guys?" He pointed at the area around Ardent, where Cynaris, Lupus and Jalsca had accumulated. "The prince and the guy with the white hair are looking for Keyblades, and the one with the ponytail is just a friend."

"I see…" Delesc shrugged. "I guess we can introduce each other somewhere else. Our unexpected guest needs to be treated."

"Gotcha." Sceore maneuvered the boy's body so that his could carry him on his back. He barely began to trudge forward when Delesc held his hand out to him. His eyebrow rose. "What?"

Delesc blinked before speaking. "…I've gone blind again."

"Oh…" Sceore grabbed Delesc's wrist and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Just follow me." He looked at Ardent. "You guys, too." He used a moment to make sure he balanced the weight of the boy on his back, and then Sceore walked ahead, Delesc following him with a light hand on his shoulder for guidance.

Before Sceore could go too far away, Ardent quickly approached him and allowed his hand to rest over Delesc's, on Sceore's shoulder. Delesc noticed, and turned her head back a bit.

"Who's..."

Sceore looked back, confused. "What's up, Ardent?"

Ardent was smirking. "You told us to follow you, like Delesc, right?"

Sceore laughed. "That's not what I meant, but if you want to, then be my guest." He continued to laugh as he walked forward.

Ardent removed his hand.

* * *

Nighttime had fallen when Cynaris, Lupus, Jalsca and Sceore had found themselves in a room suitable for casual conversation. The room was hardly used, and was only big enough to fit a table at the center, an armchair, and a cough without feeling too crowded.

Sceore took the armchair, lying on one armrest with his legs hanging over the other while he spoke with the others. "So, where's His Royal Highness? Too fancy to come join us?"

Cynaris, who sat on the left side of the couch across the table, shrugged. "He did tell us he had something to do."

"And what's that?" Sceore asked.

"He needed to talk with someone. I think he told me it was a friend from before all this, but I couldn't really hear him very well."

"I see," Sceore said.

As Sceore gave a series of slow nods, Lupus allowed himself a word. "What are Delesc and Zenton doing, then?"

"Oh." Sceore stopped nodding. "Delesc's in the lab, keeping an eye on our new friend from out of nowhere, and Zenton's busy doing something he won't bother himself to tell me about. As usual."

"That guy's not very friendly, is he?" Jalsca said, her head on her fist.

"Well…" Pretending to think of a better way to put Zenton's attitude to almost everyone, Sceore put a hand on his chin and pretended to stroke a beard. "…Yeah, he's not. To be honest, the nicest person he ever acts toward is Delesc, and the only reason it's like that is because she's so used to it."

"But haven't you known each other for a long time?" Jalsca asked.

"What gave that away?" Sceore twisted to sit upright on his armchair while Jalsca shrugged. "I've known the two of them for about four years, while they've known each other for about… " Sceore paused to count the years on his fingers. "…About six years. They met once and stuck together ever since. _Why _they still stand each other is anyone's guess."

"They're not friends?" Lupus asked.

Sceore shook his head in pity. "A long time ago, yeah, but now? No way. There's something between them, but it sure isn't fluffy or warm." He quickly waved his hands in front of him to correct himself. "But that doesn't mean they hate each other! In fact, I think they're drawn to each other just because they literally can't live without the other."

Lupus and Jalsca momentarily considered Sceore's words, trying to decipher them. They gave him befuddled stares.

"Yeah, it's hard to explain." Sceore leaned back on his armchair with his hands behind his head.

Cynaris stood up, and everyone noticed she had little part in the conversation. "I'm going to go for a walk."

When she reached the door, Sceore abruptly warned her. "It's cold out there! And windy!"

"I've been here before, Sceore," Cynaris said. "But thanks anyway." In a moment, she was out of the room.

Sceore, Lupus and Jalsca stared at the door that had just clicked closed before Sceore broke the silence. "Anyone hungry?"

* * *

"_Sounds like you've had a pretty tiring day." _Limdra's voice was slightly distorted with a mechanical quality as she spoke to Ardent, who had just given her the details of his adventure so far. _"How many people did you meet?" _

"I've lost count," Ardent said. He was walking on the forecourt, sitting on the staircase just outside the front doors. It was convenient to him how similar the Land of Departure and Radiant Garden were in that regard. "Let's see – there was Cynaris back in Radiant Garden, Jalsca and Lupus in the Galateia, and then Sceore, Delesc and Zenton in the Land of Departure."

"_Six of them," _Limdra said. "_That's more than you could count in one hand, at least."_

"Sorry," Ardent said. "Forgot Morlock."

"_Ah, the moogle." _Ardent could hear a small chuckle travel from the other end of the conversation. _"I know him. He's great with Wind magic, right?"_

"Yeah," Ardent said. "That's what Cynaris told me –"

"I'm sorry, what was it that I told you?"

Startled, Ardent turned to look behind him where the voice originated. As he guessed, Cynaris was standing there, smirking. "Hey, Aris," Ardent said. "I was just talking to Limdra."

"Limdra?" Cynaris asked, curiosity widening her eyes. "A friend of yours from the Garden?"

"Not quite. She and I talk to each other over the phone a lot. Like pen-pals, but with a phone." Ardent returned to Limdra for a moment while he stood. "Sorry, Limdra, that was Cynaris."

"_I see. I was wondering what was going on over there."_

"Wanna go talk to her?" Ardent said. He was speaking to the phone, but looking at Cynaris as he did, provoking simultaneous answers.

"_Sure."_

"All right."

Ardent quickly flipped his gaze between Cynaris and the phone he pull away from his head, and then he laughed. "Okay. Limdra, I'm handing the phone over to Cynaris." He handed the device over, and Cynaris took it, having a look before placing it by her ear. Ardent stepped back, planning to watch their conversation – or, at least, half of it, since he couldn't really hear Limdra – from afar.

"Hello, this is Cynaris the Insightful," Cynaris said. _Of course she'd introduce herself, _Ardent thought with a smirk.

She continued. "I'm speaking to Limdra, Ardent the Wise's friend, right?" She paused, listening to the reply that was silent to Ardent. "Haha, nope, you can't."

The prince was momentarily confused by the odd response until he reminded himself that he was couldn't hear what Limdra was saying, and of course the words coming out of Cynaris' mouth would be disjointed.

"Say, you sound kind of familiar…maybe I've heard your voice somewhere before." Cynaris put on a thoughtful expression. Ardent's interest was piqued, and he listened intently while Cynaris stared at a blade of grass, listening to Limdra's response.

She shook her head. "I can't remember. I guess it wasn't important anyway." It occurred to Ardent that maybe she was silent because she was trying to recall something.

"Actually, now that you said it, I'll probably be thinking about it a lot for a while. Thanks a lot." She had a joking tone, and then after a pause, she laughed at something Limdra had said.

"You should be. Well, it was nice speaking to you for once, Limdra." The next pause was short. "I'll be returning this to Ardent now." She walked toward the owner of the phone, and spoke into it one last time. "I know, I know. All right, see ya." Cynaris handed the phone back. "She seems nice."

Ardent spoke into the phone once it was in his hand. "She says you seem nice, Limdra," he said.

"It was the truth." Cynaris allowed him to laugh as she walked back to the castle.

Behind her, Ardent's continued conversation with Limdra ended with an informal farewell, but he stayed to look at the near-empty night sky.

* * *

Elsewhere in the World, the bright afternoon sun hung near the zenith, wispy clouds futilely obstructing the relentless rays it dropped on the small community of merchants underneath. The settlement stood on sand, and the most of the structures were weak and temporary. It was a gathering place for tradesmen, and among the many valuable goods they brought, information with greater value travelled.

Haroun, a young man clad in a white, hooded robe, cloth pants, and leather boots, often spent time here in order to attain that information. He was a treasure hunter of a sort, and the gain of munny was always his number one priority. He didn't steal for the tradesmen, nor did he spend a single piece of gold on their merchandise. Rather, he listened to talk of hidden wonders in the world, where prizes of legendary worth lie hidden behind great danger.

When Haroun was not in the developing desert town of Agrabah, eavesdropping on wandering tradesmen, he was finding way to overcome those dangers.

The streets of the small village were littered with tents, wooden stands, cloth rugs and, of course, the people who exchanged merchandise and munny. It wasn't very hard to spot a few moogles here and there, and well as a few shady-looking characters and their hands, too swift to theft for Haroun to stop. What Haroun was searching for, however, were the curious faces of merchants as they listened to one of their customers telling them of something that would likely be useful to a sharp-eared treasure hunter. Often, those merchants were being told of where treasure may be kept, and as the information was being passed verbally, it wasn't particularly difficult for Haroun to have a listen.

"…_me…"_

One such face he did find, on a tall merchant in a blue cloth vest, standing under a green tent only a few steps away. Haroun, now under his white hood, moved to the neighboring stand and acted interested in the various trinkets and knick-knacks being sold there, only for his stare to be unfocused and his ear, rather, keen. The purpose of his hood was to provide a bit of cover for his eyes, so that none could see his distracted glances. Only a bit of his black hair was visible when his hood was on, and when he faced someone, his brown eyes were clear under the shade. For that reason, he avoided eye contact and speaking with people when gathering information.

"…_cuse me…"_

It took varying amounts of effort to block out the chatter of the crowds around him, but he was skilled enough to pay attention to the important things, including fragments of valuable information separate from the rumor he was siphoning from at the time.

"_Excuse me…_"

He heard from the merchant something about a den of goblins in a world far away, where the goblins would keep what they had taken from towns they had attacked. The treasure there, purportedly, ranged in age from centuries to days old. As for the den itself, it slept deep inside a forest cave, surrounded by monsters that were often starved for meat. The greatest danger to those that attempted to take the treasure was not any number of monsters around the goblins' den, but –

"Excuse me."

Haroun felt a hand of his shoulder, and turned around, met by wide, electric blue eyes and a head of auburn hair. The girl in front of him was smiling brightly, and clad in attire that wasn't exactly suited for the sun. The shirt she wore could be described simply as a cream-colored, sleeveless tailcoat with a long black collar, closed on the front with a zipper. Her legs were covered by what appeared to be a cross between black pants and thigh-high stockings – detached pants, perhaps. Her shoes were also black, and her sleeves were like her pants. She wore shorts, of course, though a portion of her thighs were still exposed. Finally, there was a loose red scarf around her neck. It could've been used to cover her head, but it seemed she wasn't interested in that.

He couldn't just openly state that he was listening in on a conversation he wasn't part of, nor could he find any other excuses to distract the girl, so he spoke to her in what he hopes was a polite and friendly tone. "Yes?"

The girl's answer was quick. "Do you know anything about a Keyblade wielder called Cynaris?"

Haroun shook his head. "No. Sorry."

She shook her head vigorously. "No, no, it's fine! Thank you for taking the time to listen!" She hastily stepped back, bowed in farewell – and action odd to Haroun – and walked away briskly.

Deciding that his encounter with the strange girl was over, he returned to his previous task, only to find that the people in the stand next to him had ended their conversation regarding the goblins' den. With a slight, disappointed weight in his chest, he turned, and quickly stepped back when he saw the girl again, scratching the back of her head, while smiling at him sheepishly.

"Sorry, I forgot something," she said over a laugh. "So, if you haven't heard of Cynaris, then have you seen anyone with dark blonde hair, sorta tan skin and blue eyes? A little shorter than me, probably."

"Uh…" Haroun quickly scouted his surroundings. He hadn't been paying attention to details like those while he walked through the crowds, but now that he had, there wasn't much variation between hair, skin and eye color among the people in the trading community. Everyone seemed to have black hair, tan skin and brown eyes like he did. In fact, the girl he was speaking to seemed to stick out in the crowd with her physical features alone. "No, I haven't seen anyone like that recently."

"Oh." The disappointment in the girl's expression was as fleeting as a passing face in the crowd. "That's okay. Thank you for being so approachable." Once again, she bowed and hurried on her way.

A few moments after she had disappeared between the people passing by, Haroun continued to stare in the direction she ran.

He expected to bump into her again, sometime soon.

* * *

**_I know I should be working on my other fics around now, but I just felt like getting this done first, okay? Like, a few starting chapters of something. Three is a very small number._**

**_Also, I'm still worried about that PC browser game. I've never been so terrified of an unreleased game before in my life. They're released beta screenshots, and the player character was holding a Keyblade that looked like a Kingdom Key with a star-shaped thing for teeth instead of that crown thing. I thought it was cheap, but what can you do when everyone is coded-Avatar-sized? XD_**

**_And now for review reply revelations (that is a very inappropriate term for something like this):_**

**_Embrace of Destiny: "I like the different names you gave the characters - was there a theme (ex. Terra, Aqua, Ventus) or did you just go with names that sounded good? _**

**_A: There was no theme with most of the main characters, though there are names that link characters to others, and they do share a connection. As for those who don't have such a link, they do have meanings and/or origins related to things they're associated with. For example, Haroun is associated with the movie _Aladdin _for reasons I refuse to specify but will acknowledge. __Aladdin's name has no meaning particularly related to him, but has origins appropriate with the setting (it's Arabic, apparently). Haroun's name has the same origins, and like Aladdin, no meaning related to the character. Jalsca, however, is a complicated case, which I will explain once I am able to without going into spoilers. :3  
As for the meanings, well, I'll only state them one by one if I'm asked. To save space and all._**

**_Ruby Girl Red: "Is that the Great Stone Dragon from Mulan?"_**

**_A: This isn't really a full question, but I wanted to answer anyway. Why yes, yes it was. XD_**

**_That'll be all. I'd appreciate reviews (especially concrit), but don't let me just push you into reviewing. I don't like being forced into work as much as the next person. Thank you, and have a nice tomorrow._**

**_Note: Fenrir, Follow the Wind, and Zenton's currently-unnamed Keyblade are second, third, and fourth from the left, respectively, in the picture of the ten Graveyard Keyblades. Delesc's Follow the Wind was transformed from the form in the picture to the one used by Sora in KH2 in this chapter, and Sceore's Fenrir has the form of the Fenrir in the picture, not the one that Sora uses in KH2. Yes, there are differences._**


	4. Strays

**_Ehehehehe... I haven't updated my other story in half a year... I feel terrible... _**

**_But I get more things done if I work on the things I have the most motivation for, so I decided to work on this. I guess I should work on the other story, too, though. :/_****_ Anyway, here are the 'Nort Reports and such that are involved in this chapter:_**

**_"[There] were no walls of light enclosing each smaller world the way they do today. Nothing prevented one from physically interfering with the next." -Xehanort Report III_**

**__****_"Keyblades: _****_A key-shaped weapon forged by man during the age of fairy tales. _****_Any other origins have yet to be revealed." _****_–Glossary: Keyblades (Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance)_**

**_"[While the χ-blade] resembles a normal Keyblade, it is something altogether different._**

**_Keyblades are said to be man-made counterparts to Kingdom Hearts. The χ-blade, however, coexists with Kingdom Hearts._**

**_It is only forged when two hearts of equal power intersect—one heart of pure darkness, one heart of pure light." –Xehanort's Report VII_**

**_Yes, I will repeat the reports I mention. There aren't that many, anyway. XD_**

* * *

**Strays**

* * *

When Haroun had tried researching the exact location of the goblins' den, it proved insufficient every single time. He didn't use conventional methods of research, though, and the methods he did use weren't nearly as effective as those conventional methods, but they were the only ones he had. There were no libraries, map shops, or monster guides anywhere in Agrabah that day, so his options were limited to: ask, listen, rinse and repeat. There were times he considered leaving that particular treasure hunting spot for another day, but there were no backup options on hand, either.

The vanity of his efforts grinded at his patience, so he took some time off and decided to just take a seat in a relatively quiet, shady place, away from the heat of the sun and the noise of the crowd. Haroun leaned back on a thick, wooden tent post at the border of the small community, and took his hood off.

It was when he adjusted his limbs to a more comfortable position that he felt his left elbow nudge something that didn't feel like wood or pottery. Haroun turned his head to the side to see what his elbow had hit, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"You again?!" he exclaimed at the redheaded girl next to him. It was the same oddly-dressed one that had spoken to him only hours ago that day, asking for directions or something else that Haroun didn't bother to keep in mind.

She was smiling at him, though also in a state of shock, as her eyes were as wide as the saucers being sold three tents away. "Huh?"

"You're the girl that I talked to earlier!" Haroun said. "The one that asked me for… something…" He took a moment to try and recall what it was she had asked from him, but soon shook his head vigorously and continued. "That's not important. Do you remember me?"

The girl was still staring at him, and though her eyes had decreased in wideness, her surprised grin hadn't. "I... I don't know," she said, moving to scratch her head with a single finger. "You could've been anyone. Sorry." Her apology had been redundant, as everything about her demeanor as she responded was apologetic already. With newfound composure, she spoke again. "I've been asking everyone a bunch of things lately, so I've seen a lot of faces. I don't think I'd be able to pick yours out of my memory from all those people I asked."

Haroun nodded. Her reasoning was sound, and he agreed that he didn't stand out in the crowd. "It's fine." He returned to leaning on the wooden post, allowing his eyes to droop shut.

"My name is Talyinsa," the girl said. Haroun opened and eye to look at her. She watched him expectantly, likely for an introduction in return.

Hesitantly, he gave his name. "Haroun," he said.

"It's nice to meet – well, run into you again, Haroun." She punctuated the sentence with a warm laugh and extended her hand.

Haroun took it. "Likewise." When he let go, a question surfaced in his mind, which he allowed himself to ask. "Why the introductions, though? I doubt we'll be together very long."

"We saw each other twice today, right?" Talyinsa said. "I've been travelling around for a while, but that's never happened to me before, so I consider it a special occasion." She turned to look over the corner of the neighboring tent. "Besides, we can still be friends for that short time we are together."

Haroun was slightly taken aback by how sincere she was. Honest kindness seemed like such an alien thing to him after working by himself for so long. "R-Right…" While Talyinsa continued to intently watch whatever it was behind the tent, Haroun resumed resting his eyes. As having his eyes shut allowed him to think, he suggested to himself that he should try talking to Talyinsa, to return how friendly she was. "…So how are you looking for your friend?"

"Asking people, of course," she answered.

"Asking people? That doesn't seem like the best way to go about it, does it?" He mentally noted his hypocrisy.

"Well, yes, but the only other method I can think of would be to use Light Realm technology, and that will have to be a last resort at best."

His eyes were still shut, but one of Haroun's eyebrows was arched at the use of the words 'Light Realm technology.' While he was curious, he didn't feel it was the right moment to ask about Talyinsa's phrasing, or anything regarding the Light Realm's distinction from the Dark Realm. After all, it didn't take a genius to have a plausible guess as to why she had to be so specific about the Light Realm. Some old memories were dug up in all his thought, and Talyinsa's name suddenly seemed vaguely familiar.

Not one skilled at recollection, Haroun decided to do something more productive and talk a bit more with Talyinsa. "So if you're just going around and asking people, why are you here, and not in the crowd? There's no one to ask between a few tents."

Talyinsa laughed lightly, agreeing. "Yes, but, though it may be rude, I heard someone say Cynaris' name around here. I'm listening in to find this person."

"That seems… highly unlikely, but okay. I guess you want some silence for a while?"

"Well, not that it wasn't a pleasure talking with you, nor is it difficult for me to hear everyone, but yes, silence would make things easier."

Haroun nodded lazily. "Alright, I'll just be quiet, then." He opened his eyes and looked at Talyinsa. Her eyes seemed to be trained on a black-haired girl with a ponytail. The girl seemed to be speaking to someone, but there was no one in front of her or beside her that appeared to be paying attention, and she wasn't actively trying to gain their responsiveness, either. From where he was sitting, Haroun could only see the left side of her body, but he was close enough to pick out the words she spoke. He leaned over, putting his weight on his hand.

"Yes," the girl continued, "that's me. It's nice to meet you after… Well, I can't say I've been hearing about you for a long time, can I?" She paused. Was she talking to herself? Practicing for some kind of act? It seemed like it. "Oh? Where from? …If I were you, something like that would bother me the whole day." She paused, and then chuckled. "Heh, sorry. Even if it's not entirely my fault." At the next pause, Haroun checked to see if Talyinsa was still watching the same person he was. Though he wasn't quite sure of how accurate he was, he traced Talyinsa's stare to the girl with the ponytail. Now slightly more sure of himself, he resumed listening to the girl. "Likewise... Well, if you intend to keep it, I won't stop you."

The girl didn't seem to be finished with her 'talk,' but the air beside Haroun suddenly shifted. When he looked to the side, Talyinsa seemed to have vanished. He stood up and did a quick scan of the area around him to try and find her. In the process, he caught the ponytailed girl rush past him, and acting on a whim, he followed her.

It took all of Haroun's focus not to lose the girl in the crowd's motion, and an extra ounce of effort not to fall behind. She was so swift and agile as she moved that no one seemed to notice her as she dashed by, whereas Haroun must've bumped a dozen peoples' shoulders in the hurry he was in. The chase was so rushed that it must've not even been a minute when he was led to the edge of the community. During the fraction of a second Haroun used to glance at his surroundings to find something of a reason she ran there, the girl herself disappeared without a trace, and Haroun was left with no one to follow.

His initial reaction to losing his 'guide' was to narrow his eyes in irritation at himself, but he recalled a strange shape that he had seen when he glanced away. At a distance to his right, a small wooden structure that Haroun decided could be called a shack sat behind an assortment of differently-colored tents, making it seem like it was part of the merchant's gathering area. Though the shack had towered in comparison to the small tents neighboring it, it appeared more like an abandoned house that served as a landmark. If not for the girl seeming to lead him to it, Haroun would've ignored it, which was what he concluded others in the area would've done as well if they had taken a second glance at it.

With a flippant shrug at his worries and suspicions, Haroun trudged toward the small shack, calling Horizon Pursuit, his Keyblade, to his right hand. It was a Keyblade that he considered bland aside from the ornately designed teeth and hand guard, and it was lighter than most due to the thin and featureless blade. The lightness of the weapon was what Haroun considered its best trait, as it allowed him to wield it effortlessly, and he relied more on his swiftness of foot and thought rather than strength in battle.

With the same amount of effort Haroun would've used to close a book, he pushed the door open, and while he was suspecting the ease of breaching what he thought was a crook's hideout, he soon understood why the wooden door needed no reinforcement.

On the floor was a square hatch made of a dark-colored metal, with a steel handle that was built into the surface, and strange locks on side across each other, with a mechanism that Haroun wasn't familiar with. The locks were designed like fragments of a frame that prevented the hatch from opening by holding it in place, and it was supposed to be deactivated using some sort of sliding peg on a slot, which could be moved like a bead on an abacus. Haroun was only mildly interested in how it worked, as locks were trivial matters to him.

He pointed his Keyblade at the center of the hatch, and after a small, familiar light show, the hatch was unlocked. Haroun proceeded to pull it open and crouch to peer down at it. The floor below him was made of a type of stone the same color as the desert sand, and only an eight-foot drop away, while from down there, a trail of metal bars swerved as a ladder. He jumped down and landed most silently onto the floor as the mechanical hatch slowly shut itself, locking with a series of resounding mechanical noises. Haroun swallowed in worry that the sound was a giveaway for his presence, but he went forward, confident that he could thwart any efforts a group of petty kidnappers would take to stop him.

The hallway was narrow, dimly lit and so quiet that Haroun could hear his own footsteps echo off the stone walls. Eventually the hallway he went down came to a right turn, and he heard a new set of footstep echoes mixing with his. His tightened the grip on his Keyblade and stopped right before the turn, breathing deeply as he listened to the footsteps approach.

Once he judged that the footsteps' creator had come dangerously close, he jumped out with savage intent, only for his attack to be thwarted by a clumsy and reflexive swing of another Keyblade. It wouldn't have been so easy to fend off his attack if he didn't decide to pull back at the last instant.

Their third meeting of the day was no less surprising to him that their second. "Talyinsa?!"

She was beaming with delight. "Haroun! Why are you here?"

"You went missing," he answered. "Did you come here?"

"No." Talyinsa looked like she wanted to explain more, but she frantically looked over her shoulder, and then gripped Haroun's wrist. "And neither of us should be here anymore. I'm still being chased, and the spell I used to slow them down has probably worn off already. I won't be able to use it again soon enough if they catch me here."

Haroun looked over Talyinsa's shoulder as well. The hallway would've been identical to the one he had just gone through if it weren't for the series of doors on the inner wall. "Who's 'they'?" he wondered aloud.

"It's complicated," Talyinsa said, despite Haroun not requesting an answer. "You could say they're enemies. Now let's go!" At the end of her sentence, she made a break for the exit, dragging Haroun with a firm grip on his wrist.

"Wait!" Haroun said as he adjusted to her pace. "How many of them are there?"

"Too many for me to have counted," Talyinsa said. "The spell I used had a wide radius of effect, but it wasn't able to capture all of them."

"What spell did you use?"

"Just a simple Zero Gravity spell."

Talyinsa's answer made a spark in Haroun's mind, and his pace became automatic as he began to think. _Zero Gravity is a spell from the dark capital, and she said earlier that using Light Realm technology to look for her friend had to be a last resort. She has a Keyblade, too… _Haroun examined the weapon in Talyinsa's left hand. The blade was wide and made of a black metal, and the hand guard reminded him of the blades on an axe. The teeth of the Keyblade took of the form of two outward spiked at the edge of a sudden curve on the blade, and the hilt had two protrusions on either side. Its name, 'Highworld Flight', referred to the world wherein it was a symbol of great dark power. _She's a Keyblade wielder from the Dark Realm, but she isn't part of their war force, Alliance Corvus… Is she like me?_

"There!" Haroun was shocked out of his thoughts. They were quickly approaching the hatch that he had come through, but something about the air suddenly felt off.

Just as they were about to reach the hatch, a line of white fire suddenly appeared in front of them – the marker of an otherwise invisible wall. They skidded to a halt, and Talyinsa let go of Haroun's wrist. She stepped back and looked at the fire as if it were some sort of life-threatening abomination.

"Wh-What is that?" she asked with a trembling voice. Her fear was plain to see, and to Haroun, also odd.

"It's a force field made of light," Haroun said. "Since it doesn't have a lock, Keyblade wielders can't go through it, and it's pretty much unbreakable."

"Then we're trapped?"

As if solely to worsen their situation, a mob of men armed with appeared down the hall. Haroun suppressed a sigh. "Guess so."

"How do we remove it?"

"Ah, that's where the problem is." Haroun scratched the back of his neck. "This is the first time I've encountered one. I'm not sure how to get rid of them."

Yet another echo of footsteps resounded through the hallway. Haroun turned and braced himself for an enemy, but Talyinsa found it strange that there was only one person.

Soon enough, a figure came into sight, revealing itself to be a familiar person as it came closer. Haroun and Talyinsa both recognized it as the black-haired girl they saw when they were near the tents.

"Don't say anything," Haroun said to Talyinsa. "She doesn't know we know who she is."

"O-Okay."

"D-Don't attack me!" the girl said as she ran. "I'm not an enemy!" Shortly, she reached Haroun and Talyinsa, and proceeded to support herself on her knees while catching her breath.

Haroun's voice became cold and suspicious. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"Huh?" The girl raised her head at Haroun, and took a final, deep breath before answering. "I'm not an enemy, if that's what you're concerned about. In fact, I think I just made an enemy of them while I was here." She looked at Talyinsa. "So, I take it you were being chased, too, am I right?"

"Yes, I was," Talyinsa said. "But why are you –"

"Aha!"

A low, guttural voice intercepted the trio's conversation, and they simultaneously jerked their heads in its direction. There was a man wielding a curved broadsword, wearing a grin that meant different things to different parties. For his allies, it meant that their targets were cornered exactly where they had predicted. For Haroun's group, it meant they had been mostly caught.

"Oh, sorry," the girl said as the man began yelling something onto the other hallway. "Did I stall you two?"

"No," Talyinsa said. "Rather, something else did."

"That force field." The girl said it as if she had only seen it for the first time. From her expression, it was likely so. She took quick steps toward it to rest her hand on the invisible surface. "We can't break it, and there's no way to get over it." Behind the girl, a mob appeared and steadily advanced in Talyinsa's direction, their speed as a whole only hampered by the narrowness of the hallway. Despite them, the girl continued with an even voice. "But if we find the source of energy and cut the power, it'll go down in a snap."

Haroun, eyeing the mob while listening to their oddly knowledgeable companion, prepared for a fight. _I don't think it'd be easy to fight in such a cramped space. Our best option is to escape. _"Where's the energy source, then?"

The girl turned around and looked at the mob with an analytical eye. Haroun flicked his gaze towards her for a second, and he could see her changing the focus of her stare several times in an instant. After a blink, she pulled her right hand back, and threw a disk-like object that moved so quickly that it was a dark gray blur to Haroun. "This one," she said. With unnaturally appropriate timing, a lightning struck someone in the middle of the group, creating a bit of commotion between them.

"That must've knocked him out, but does that mean…" To confirm his thoughts, Haroun turned around. The girl was already at the top rung of the ladder, trying to push the hatch open.

"Won't budge!" she said.

Not wasting another second, Haroun unlocked the hatch the same way he did to enter, and the girl pushed it open, climbing out hastily. Haroun was about to allow Talyinsa to go first when she said, "Go ahead, Haroun!" He didn't find enough time to argue, and jumped out not a second later. The girl was there to hold the hatch open, and Talyinsa joined her shortly after he did. The three of them left the hatch to shut itself while they made their swift runaway.

Once in the gathering of tents, they hid themselves between empty spaces, covered by cloth and the still-thick crowd. By then, the sky was beginning to redden, but Haroun didn't notice in all the commotion his mind had been. Haroun wiped some sweat off his brow with his sleeve. The excitement from earlier had only begun dissipating seconds ago, and his mind began to clear enough for his accumulated questions to be laid out and dealt with.

Why was there an underground structure in a desert area? Who was the girl that helped him and Talyinsa escape? How did she come to know what she knew? Why kidnap Talyinsa, who seemed to be a lone traveler? And who was she to have a Keyblade and know spells from the dark realm, yet not be in their war forces?

"That was quite the experience, wasn't it?"

Talyinsa had once again pulled Haroun out of thinking. She was sitting next to him, and didn't appear at all tired by the events that had just transpired.

"It was." Haroun had to agree. Never in his life had he been underground outside natural landforms, or had he attempted to save someone from kidnappers. It occurred to him that he didn't do anything useful there. Talyinsa would've been fine even if he hadn't been present, since that girl had been the one to break the force field, and Talyinsa could've opened that hatch with her own Keyblade.

"Hey," Talyinsa said. She appeared to be searching for something. "Where is she?"

"Huh?" Haroun knew she referred to their mysterious helper. She seemed to have disappeared or chosen a different place to hide. For some reason or another, Haroun wasn't surprised. "Guess she went ahead."

"Oh, that's too bad," Talyinsa said. "We haven't properly thanked her."

Haroun nodded in agreement. "We never learned her name, either. But I don't think we should go looking for her just to thank her. She might already be too far for us to catch up with."

"I suppose." Talyinsa was only slightly depressed, and quickly smiled at Haroun for reasons the receiver of the smile did not understand at first glance.

"What?"

"I'll thank you instead," Talyinsa said. "Thank you for trying to save me, Haroun."

She was aware that Haroun's presence wasn't quite necessary, if her use of the word 'trying' gave anything away. It saved him the trouble of refusing her thanks for that reason, anyway. "You're welcome, I guess."

"But if you don't mind me asking, why _did _you save me? I'm probably little more than a stranger to you," Talyinsa said.

Haroun crossed his arms and looked to the side. "That's a good question." After a pause and a bit of thought, he was able to find his answer. "Well, it just seemed like I had to. I mean, if someone you were talking with was suddenly snatched from under your nose while your back was turned, then wouldn't you feel obligated to help them?"

Talyinsa's smile grew, and she looked to the ground in a sentimental manner. "Yes, that does make sense…"

Satisfied with her reaction, Haroun breathed a sigh of relaxation. "Good to hear…" His mind began to become silent, as he decided all of his questions could be answered some other day.

"Haroun."

He opened an eye and tipped his head at an angle to look at Talyinsa. "Yeah?"

"I think I should repay you for helping me," Talyinsa said.

"Nah, it's fine," Haroun said. "I didn't really help much, anyway."

"No, I mean, um…" She paused and clasped her hands together in a way that made it appear she was struggling to find words. "I-It's the thought that counts, right? Even just a little favor?"

"Alright, alright." Haroun searched his mind for something that Talyinsa might help him with. He snapped his fingers decisively when he found something. "Do you happen to know where I can find goblins?"

"Yes!" Her reply was so full of energy that Haroun thought she was about to jump, but she cleared her throat, collecting herself. "Goblins are found in grasslands to the north, on the border of the Gaian Empire. But if you're looking for where they live, they all seem to stay in a cave that's hidden in a forest to the world's east."

Haroun stared at Talyinsa in disbelief for a few seconds, and Talyinsa nodded back at him fervently, to assure him that everything she said was true.

He shrugged. "Well, okay, if you're so sure." Standing up and stretching, he began to search for the best way out of the world he was currently in, peering between tents and people. "I'm heading there as soon as I can." He extended a hand toward Talyinsa. "It was nice meeting you."

To his surprise, she didn't take his hand. "You're going there alone?"

"Yes, I am," Haroun said.

"You shouldn't." Talyinsa stood and dusted herself off as she continued. "Goblins are weak enemies alone, but they are also one of the most intelligent monsters in the World and are aware of their weakness, so they know to fight in groups. Since you're going into an area that's highly populated by goblins, you can be sure that they will use their numbers to their advantage."

"So you think I'm not good enough to beat them?" Haroun's voice had an edge of pride, which Talyinsa detected.

"I don't mean to offend, but yes," she said. "I wouldn't be able to do so, either, but I'm considering travelling with you to help. This will be for my own benefit."

Haroun made a thoughtful grumbling sound. "Sorry, but I'm not good working with others."

"Neither am I," Talyinsa said. "But we don't have to cooperate. We can mostly stay out of each other's way."

She was reasonable, but Haroun was still reluctant about having her – a stranger, like she said – join him. And he couldn't see anything he could gain from having here as an ally, because he was sure that goblins were about a difficult to defeat as mice as long as he had his Keyblade. _The Keyblade… _He was reminded of Talyinsa's Keyblade, and her magic. He then thought that, perhaps, by travelling with Talyinsa, he would learn more about her and where she came from.

There was at least one thing to be gained and nothing to be lost when it came to her company, so Haroun accepted it. And once again, Talyinsa's reaction was so energetic that he thought she would jump.

"Why are you so happy about that?" he asked.

"Maybe we can become friends this way!" she answered, no less ecstatic.

_That's why? _Haroun waved off his befuddlement and began to walk. "C'mon, then. I'm pretty sure the Gaian Empire's a pretty good distance away from here. We should get going."

"Let me handle getting to the forest," Talyinsa said, running up to Haroun's side. "We'll take an airship. That way we won't have to tire ourselves getting there, and we'll arrive sooner."

"If you say so." It was strange how Talyinsa was the more excited of the two despite not targeting the treasure in the cave. Then again, Haroun was never the one for emotions. Talyinsa, however, seemed to have twice as much cheer as the average human being. For a moment, he wondered if that cheer would ever bother him.

"Oh." Talyinsa appeared to have recalled something, from the way her eyes were slightly widened. "I haven't quite introduced myself, have I?"

"What are you talking about?" Haroun asked. "You already introduced yourself. Your name is Talyinsa."

"My _entire _identity," she said. "My name is the only thing I ever told you, right?"

Haroun's response was a silent nod, urging Talyinsa to continue. He was, after all, curious about her. He didn't know how she could introduce herself beyond a name, though, since Haroun was always only 'Haroun.'

As Talyinsa gave Haroun her 'entire identity,' Haroun pulled all the questions he had about her back from his mind, hoping they would be answered. What he didn't expect was for the simple reintroduction to answer all of them. His guess about her being in the same situation as him was shot down, but the disheartening that came from his error was outweighed by the surprise from truth that corrected it.

While Haroun was a rogue soldier of the Light Realm's war force, Alliance Columba, Talyinsa was the travelling princess of Ethereal Fortress, the city of darkness.

* * *

The boy's eyes were slow to open, and the light of the room felt focused on him, making his awakening difficult. When his eyes finally adjusted, he tried to orient himself. He was lying on a featureless bed, in an unfamiliar room. There was a screen in the side of the room, displaying a variety of statistics that he didn't know the meaning of, and there was also some equally strange equipment placed in what he thought was a strategic manner. His limbs were restrained onto the bed by something resembling leather, so he couldn't rise and investigate. Yet with all the unfamiliarity, he felt strangely comfortable where he was. He didn't dwell on the reason for his comfort.

"You're awake."

He was slightly startled by the voice that came from his left. A brown haired girl with a pair of odd-looking goggles atop her head sat in a blue swivel chair, with a book on her lap. She was halfway through it if the hand that rested between visible pages was any indication, but at the time, she seemed to have taken more of an interest in the boy than what she as reading.

He realized he must've been staring when the girl spoke again. "How do you feel?"

He swallowed, and answered in a quiet voice. "Just fine, strangely." The girl nodded slowly. "Where am I?"

"You're in the Land of Departure's castle," she answered. "My name is Delesc of the Vanguard. You appeared here on a rampage of a sort, emanating an abnormally high amount of darkness. It was a challenge to calm you down."

The boy's gaze lowered, as his head could not. "I see…" The situation that Delesc had just described wasn't completely unfamiliar to him. Thinking about such events always left him with a heavy feeling in his chest, so he introduced himself instead. "I'm Seren. I'm guessing my rampage is why I'm tied up?"

"Yes. We couldn't have you do it again. The people who helped calm you are still recovering from the fight. Luckily, one of them knows Cure, so it's not too bad a situation."

"I understand," Seren said, "and I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Delesc said. "At the very least, I'm here to help you, though I'm fairly certain that at least one of the others wants to help, too." She shut her book with a definitive snap.

"Oh." Seren couldn't help but feel that he didn't entirely deserve so much hospitality. Nonetheless, he was grateful. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, but don't think it's solely for your benefit." Seren looked at her. "I gain something from this, too," she said. "Do you know why you were on a rampage in the first place?"

Seren didn't want to be honest with her, but her air was more professional than friendly, and she asked questions like a doctor who needed answers to know what the problem was. "I… I was angry."

Delesc hummed, as if she was expecting him to say that. "Most people wouldn't suddenly go on such a destructive, blind rampage just because they're angry," she said. Seren remained silent as Delesc stood from her chair and moved to release his limbs from their restraints. "But that doesn't mean you're the only one who does that. I've heard of similar cases, where someone would become so enraged that they really do cause that much destruction without even consciously knowing it."

Seren's left arm was free, and he moved it around as a sort of test. "What does that mean?"

"It's almost like a medical condition, but at the same time, not," Delesc said, moving to the restraint on his left leg. "It's not an official name, but this condition is most commonly known as 'Pharmakon.' It's a word from the language of Olympus that means 'poison.'"

"So, am I poisoned or something?"

"Not quite." She finished undoing the restraint, and moved on to the next one. "Let me explain how it works. A person creates their dominant force from strong emotion, or by exercising the use of the force in things like magic. Negative emotions, however, create an unstable variation of that energy, which is normally insignificant, and can be converted into regular energy over time or with practice. You have roughly the same amount of light and darkness in your heart right now. Regardless of what energy their heart naturally creates and uses, a person infected with Pharmakon will create more unstable darkness than usual when they feel 'negative' emotions, like sadness, anger, or fear. The Pharmakon in a person's heart will sort of 'eat' these emotions and create dark energy with them." She began working on the final restraint.

"I guess that means all that darkness came from my own negative emotions, then," Seren said in comprehension.

"Yes, but it also caused you to feel much more anger by amplifying those emotions, so that it would have more to feed on." Delesc finished the final restraint. "So when you get angry, the Pharmakon creates unstable darkness, and then makes you even angrier. I suppose your level of anger escalated to such a height that your heart, which, at the time, was made of darkness, possessed you. Luckily, though you spent up a lot of the darkness, so the energy levels should be back to normal." At the end of Delesc's explanation, Seren caught her mulling over whether it made sense or not, with her hand on her chin and a string of inaudible words coming from her mouth.

He decided to assure her of her explanation's sensibility. "I see," he said, confirming that he had understood at least the bare minimum of what he needed to. "This Pharmakon thing made me angrier than I already was, so it made me create all that darkness…" As he sat up, a question entered his mind. "Delesc."

"Hm?"

"When a person has a lot of darkness in their heart, the heart takes over, right?" Seren thought it put a cruel spin to the saying 'follow your heart.'

"Yes, and that's what happened to you."

"What about light? It's not fair for the people in the Dark Realm to be the only ones in danger of that."

Delesc smiled. "I'm glad you thought of that, and even more so if you happened to be from the Light Realm. Not many people give consideration to those from the Realm opposing theirs." Seren took Delesc's statement as a compliment, and smiled softly. "Like I said, there are two subtypes of energy: regular, and unstable. The heart creates the unstable type of its dominant energy when a person experiences negative emotions, so when a light-dominant person feels those negative emotions they will create unstable light. Normal darkness and light wouldn't make a person go crazy, but unstable energy created by these emotions cause those blindness problems."

"Blindness problems?" Seren face contorted in confusion. "I never said anything about blindness problems."

"Oh, right." Delesc shook her head at herself. "Do you know how you can't see when a room is too dark, or when you wince because a light is too bright?"

"Yeah," Seren said. "Is that what you mean? Blindness is a metaphor of a sort?"

"Not quite. The eyes and the heart are actually connected that way. See, I'm a Keycrafter, and when I create Keyblades, I have to make these circles with these glyphs on them. Those circles are not only pathways for light and dark energies to pass from my heart to their target, but they're also my eyes."

As Delesc had been explaining, Seren recalled when he had his Keyblade created, recalling the various things she described as they appeared in his memories. He remembered the circles, but he could not imagine how drawings that floated in midair could possibly be a person's eyes. "What do you mean, they're your eyes?"

"Your iris is a circle, isn't it? And if you looked at an iris closely, there are these little lines, right? That's what the circles are – my irises. Energy passes through the center of the circle, like how your pupil is what allows you to see. Am I making sense?"

Seren's armed were crossed, his gaze, though thoughtful, was directed at a wooden table leg, and his head was tipped to the side. "Sort of…"

"Well, point is, those circles are my eyes, and by giving them that form, they allow me to release large amounts of light and dark energy. Usually, a Keycrafter has to use one eye for darkness and another for light, since it's easier to let them out that way. As a matter of personal preference, I like to use my right eye for darkness and my left for light, but I can easily swap them, and it wouldn't make any difference for me either – Agh, I'm sorry." Delesc's head dropped, and he held her face in a manner that betrayed shame.

"Why? I don't mind your explanation."

"Oh?" Her head rose quickly, and her eyes were slightly wider. "Um, thank you. Not most people tolerate my, uh, 'lectures' very well. It just, this is a topic that interests me quite a bit."

"I can tell," Seren said. "You began to talk a little faster when the subject came up."

"So you noticed… and you'll allow me to continue?" Seren put on a warm smile and nodded. "Thanks. I'm almost finished, anyway, and I'll try to cut to the chase. Yes, putting your irises in the form of a runic circle allows more energy to be taken from the heart and focused on a particular area. But in my case, I often exert so much energy using these circles that I temporarily lose my vision."

"Wait, so the eyes are gateways to the energy from a person's heart?"

Delesc hummed in thought and scratched her temple with a finger. "That's one way to put it. They're more commonly called windows."

"I see."

Anything Seren would've said afterwards had to wait, because the sound of knuckles rapping against the thick wooden door had cut him off.

"You can come in," Delesc said.

The door opened, and from behind it, a brown-haired boy stepped in, and leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed. "I have some explaining to do."

"Seren," Delesc said, "this is Sceore, a friend of mine who lives here. Sceore, that's Seren. He –"

"Is that the crazy guy we took down yesterday?" Sceore said.

Delesc's eyelids lowered at the interruption. "Yes, but you can be sure that he won't –"

"This guy's not gonna be at it again in a few minutes, is he?"

"Sceore, I was getting to that." Delesc had the expression of a person dealing with a curious toddler. Sceore didn't appear to notice, but his expression lowered in energy. "I was able to balance his light and darkness levels, so he won't start destroying any more of the castle without effort. But let's put that aside for now. What's this about explaining?"

"Oh, right." Sceore cleared his throat. "A little earlier, Lupus visited Morlock on the lower lands to check out the airship, and Zenton went there with him because, well, he's Zenton, and this is an airship we're dealing with. When they got there, they found – get this – a bat-eared fox, in the ship's food stock, stealing a snack."

"A stowaway fox?" Delesc said. "What could a fox be doing in a moogle airship?"

"I know, right? It's weird. But it gets even weirder." At that point, Sceore began to gesture. "This fox? It can talk. And everyone freaked out except for Lupus and Jalsca. The fox can be pretty snide, too."

"You must be calling me to have a look at this fox, then," Delesc said.

"That's right. We put it in the second floor hall, so it can't get out if it escapes its cage."

Sceore waited for Delesc's response, while her eyes switched between him and Seren in consideration. She clicked her tongue. "I'll be there in a few minutes. There are a few things here that I have to take care of before I go."

"Alright, then I'll just tell them to wait," Sceore said. "See ya." He left the room, the door automatically clicking closed behind him.

"What are you going to do?" Seren asked as Delesc picked up a small notebook and flipped to a certain page.

"I have to make sure that what happened yesterday doesn't happen again. Of course it's not entirely my responsibility. I'm only doing this because I have a feeling I'll be blamed if events repeat." She appeared to skim through a few notes, turning pages forward and back until stopping at some point. "Here we go. Since negative emotions are what causes the effects of Pharmakon to begin with, you have to try to keep your emotions in check. Don't think about anything negatively unless it's important."

Seren took a moment to commit everything to memory, and then nodded resolutely. "Got it. Seems easy enough."

"Good. Now, I've been giving this some thought, and I think it's best if you stick around with us."

"Huh?" In unease, he looked to the side and tucked his hand in his pockets. "Why?"

"Why not?" Delesc asked. "Making friends is a good way to brighten up, and you should probably start here. Unless you have someplace you'd feel more comfortable in."

"Well, I used to be part of Alliance Corvus, but since I caused some trouble there, I don't think they'd want me back…"

"Let's not talk about it, then."

"What?" Seren looked at Delesc with an expression of confusion.

"I don't really have to remind you." She waved her notebook up as a silent explanation, and Seren nodded, understanding. "So, then, you're staying with us for now." She approached the door and put her hand on the handle. "So let's start as soon as possible. We'll go meet the others while we see the fox."

* * *

"I'm not seeing it." Jalsca crossed her arms. "Sorry, but talking animals just aren't the strangest things in the world for me."

Before her, Ardent, Cynaris, Lupus and Zenton was a caged, brown-furred fox with disproportionately large black ears. Despite its sudden imprisonment, it didn't appear uneasy around humans, and the way its tail swept the cage floor implied that it was even comfortable. Lupus crouched in front of it.

"You guys have never seen a talking animal before?" he asked.

"Nope," Ardent said.

"Of course not," Cynaris said. "So why can _this_?"

"Well, I know that there are worlds were nonhumans can talk," Lupus said. "So, where are you from?"

The fox's ears perked up at being spoken to. "Huh?" In the fox's eyes, the humans were very busy talking amongst themselves, save for one that sat in a chair a short distance away.

"I wanna know what world you're from, to be able to speak," Lupus said.

"Oh, alright," the fox said. "I'm from the Pride Lands. You've probably never heard of it, since humans have been prohibited from entering there for a while."

"Actually, I have heard of it," Lupus said. "From a friend. He's not from there, but he's visited."

"Okay," the fox said with a lack of interest. "You probably want to know my name."

"That'd be nice," Lupus said.

"Akili," the fox said. "Female bat-eared fox. Just so you know."

"It's nice to meet you, Akili," Lupus said. "But why are you so far from home? The Pride Lands are almost across the World."

Just as Akili was about to answer, the large set of double doors at the back of the room groaned open, and Sceore entered, dusting his hands off each other as if he had completed a physically-taxing chore.

"I just finished telling Delesc about our new vulpine friend here," he said as he approached the group, "and she said she'd be joining us in a bit."

For the first time since the fox was brought into the hall, Zenton spoke. "What about the guy who attacked us?" he asked. "They were in the same place."

"Oh, yeah, he's up," Sceore answered. "Delesc even introduced me to him. He's called 'Seren,' and he won't be attacking us in a while. Or at least, that's what she told me." He shrugged, and crouched next to Lupus to get a better look at the fox. "So, is this fox a friend or a foe?"

"Friend, so far," Lupus said. "She hasn't shown any signs of being a foe."

"A vixen, huh?" Sceore lowered his head to look at Akili, who growled at him. "She has a name, then?"

"Yeah," Lupus said. "She said her name is Akili."

"Akili," Sceore said, directly to the fox, "how'd you learn to talk?"

"I dunno, how did you?" she said, earning a faux offended look from Sceore. Akili looked over him, at the people who were still standing. "I heard that another one of you is alright with talking nonhumans. Could you please explain it to this guy again?"

All eyes turned to Jalsca. She sighed. "Okay. Sceore, just earlier, Lupus told us that there are worlds where nonhumans can speak just as well as humans. Akili is from one of those worlds, which is why she can speak."

"That so?" Sceore said. "What world, then?"

"The Pride Lands, as was said only a few minutes ago," Jalsca said. She swiftly jerked her head in Lupus direction. "That's it, right? I've explained everything, right?"

"That's pretty much it," Lupus said. "Sceore got here when I asked why Akili was so far from home. So… Akili?"

"Wait a second, let me think." Akili stared at the cage floor for several seconds before nodding. "I guess I could tell you. I'm doing some research on you humans for a friend of mine."

"You're _researching _us?_" _Cynaris said in slight shock.

"Sorta. Just observing, really." Akili began to scratch the back of her ear with one of her hind feet. "It's not like I'd hurt you. It's not like I can, either."

"But why?" Ardent asked. "We were kept out of your world for a long time. Why the sudden interest?"

"That's why," Akili said. "You were _supposed _to stay out, but just a few years ago, some people from the war turned our world into a battlefield. Of course there was some collateral damage." She paused. "Okay, a lot of it."

"Is this for some kind of revenge?" Ardent asked.

"No, not at all. The Pride Lands wouldn't stand a chance against all you human Keyblade wielders and your fancy magic." She yawned. "I just have to know what your situation is." She made a lazy growling sound while she stared at the cage walls. "Hey, gray-haired human."

Lupus blinked. "Um, my name is Lupus."

"Lupus, then. I don't suppose you and the girl with the black hair are okay with visiting the Pride Lands, are you?"

"Oh, I've been there plenty of times before," Jalsca said with an ounce of pride. "My Master takes me to a lot of places for his job. No problem."

"I can, too," Lupus said. "But I want to get my Keyblade first."

"Oh, well, hm…" Akili lowered one ear. "How long does that take?"

Lupus scratched his head and looked to the ceiling. "I'm not sure… Maybe a day?"

"I guess I can live that long," Akili said. After another yawn, she looked around the hall. "You got any grub fit for a fox?"

Lupus raised an eyebrow. "Grub?"

"Yes. Lizards, insects, stuff like that."

"Um, no…"

"Well, then, could you let me out so I can find some?" Akili began to paw at the cage. "I have no idea what world this is, so I can't just run off."

"So you're staying."

"That's right. Is there a problem?"

Zenton stood up, earning the attention of everyone in the room, as he had been mostly silent since finding Akili. "Yes, there is."

Akili turned her head to see Zenton. "What is it?"

"It's not quite a problem from your presence here, but what you do once you leave," Zenton said. "Lupus and Jalsca are only two people. When they get to the Pride Lands, there's a possibility that everyone there could turn on them. You might just be leading them to a trap."

"Geez, Zenton," Cynaris said, frowning. "You don't have to be so suspicious."

"It's still a possibility. This _is _a fox, after all." He glared at Akili. "Who knows what it could be thinking?"

"If you're so suspicious," Akili said, "then why don't you tag along? Just don't cause any trouble during the visit."

Zenton held his glare while contemplating Akili's suggestion. "…Fine. If something happens, I'd be able to take them back here."

"I can get here by myself, actually," Jalsca said.

"Doesn't matter," Akili said. "It's a deal, then?"

Zenton nodded silently, and then held his hand up towards the cage. Akili winced at the cage was enveloped in white light, and as the light faded, she fell in inch down, onto what she thought was the real floor. When she looked at Zenton, he was holding his Keyblade, which had shards of fading light trailing from the blade. Without another word, Zenton walked out of the hall.

* * *

**_Remember that naming rule I mentioned in this section of the last chapter? Yeah, that applies to Akili, too. Just thought I'd mention. :3_**

**_By the way, Ruby Girl Red, if you're there, I wanna say that your name is reminiscent of a certain High Caliber Sniper Scythe wielder. Just sayin'. It's actually pretty funny how I had no idea about the series the character was from until sometime between after I read your name and now. I'm like, "Oh, 'Ruby Girl Red' sounds like..." It's like a rewatch bonus in real life. XD_**

**_Since this thing isn't all that popular and it's only got a few reviews, I won't do another one of those review reply thingies for this one. I just answer questions that can be answered. :/ I will, however, extend some extra thanks to Cori Shadowfang for giving this a shot in her community. (As well as mentioning the typos in her review. I think I fixed them. I think.)_**

**_If there are any MiSH readers who are checking this out, I'm sorry I couldn't update that first. I'm trying to make MiSH a high-quality-ish (since I gradually improve, quality may not be consistent) fic, and I can't do that if I force myself to type something out. _**

**_And if there are any kind souls who can help make some cover art for this, the world (me especially) would be thankful, because a cat face (or _****_whatever my current profile picture is at the time of reading) doesn't make good cover art for a story like this. I can't draw. :I_**

**_By the way, I'd also like to mention that I only made Talyinsa left-handed because then it'd look cooler once [SPOILER]. She was going to be right-handed until a few days ago. :3_**

**_Note: Horizon Pursuit and Highworld Flight are ninth and tenth from the left in the picture of the ten Graveyard Keyblades. _**


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